Star Wars NJO Adventurers of Tahiri: Fresh Start
by Mik Sunrider
Summary: Complete Tahiri has left Zonama Sekot in search of her own place in the galaxy.
1. Default Chapter

_I don't own Star Wars only the big guy does, I just playing around in his universe. I'm doing this for my own enjoyment and will not nor plan to nor expect any form of compensation for these stories. And if the big guy ever finds out about this I hope that he will be understanding and won't sue me till the ends of the Earth. And if you do read these stories I hope that you also enjoy them_.

STAR WARS

NEW JEDI ORDER

ADVENTURERS OF TAHIRI

Fresh Start

Danni walked towards the clearing hearing the soft hum of a light saber echoing in the air. A sound that stood out from the soft, gentle breeze with a golden fruity smell that floated through the tall boras trees was something that one would imagine in a dream. All round Danni the life energy of Zonama Sekot could be felt in the Force, over powering at times but always in balance. As all the creatures that exist on Zonama Sekot work in harmony and peace towards the greater good of Zonama Sekot. There was no strife, no competition for food or water, each creature and plant receiving enough to survive but not so much to deny their neighbor of the same. There was no committees, no endless meetings over stupid rules that work against the natural order of things. No pompous bureaucrat who decides that thing had to be done a certain way for no better reason then that what he wanted. No one attacking and destroying whole worlds to satisfied their own selfish needs. None of the problems that plague the galaxy as a whole, in her past life. The greed and selfishness that the Yuuzhan Vong were so easily able to exploited as they waged a bloody war against the New Republic for 4 years. She paused to look at the Lime tree that grew under a boras tree. 

The Yuuzhan Vong who had invaded her galaxy four years ago, who captured her and killed all her friends at a outpost on Belkadon. A outpost, ironically enough, that had been established to search for life outside the galaxy. _Well it worked we found out that there is life outside the galaxy,_ Danni thought with a small smile, _and they didn't come in peace._ The Yuuzhan Vong who had to leave their home galaxy after they destroyed it, making it unable to support life, in huge World ships in search of a new home. The Yuuzhan Vong who used living creatures like her people used machines to make their lives easier, more productive, to make war. The Yuuzhan Vong who believed their gods gave them all their knowledge in a time long lost, who demanded sacrifices, that pain was a sign of devotion to their blood thirsty gods, who demanded that all machine be wiped out and all who used them. 

The Yuuzhan Vong who once wanted to destroy what they had spent thousands of years searing for, their home world. Zonama Sekot had once been a part of their home world, Yuuzhan'tar. Before Yuuzhan'tar was destroyed by the Yuuzhan Vong IT sent a seed in the intergalactic void and found Zonama to grow on. Through Zonama Sekot they hope to regain the balance that they lost when they turned away from their living god. In the last three months that Zonama Sekot has been at this new star system, the Yuuzhan Vong have re-learned much about the old ways. There had been some problems along the way but that is to be expected considering they spent thousands of years living one way. Going from bloody thirst warriors to gentle farmers is a big adjustment but many are adjusting. There is peace on Zonama Sekot and everyone was happy.

"Khapet!"

A small smile came to Danni's lips as she walked in to the clearing and saw Tahiri with her icy blue light saber on and looking up at a couple Vong lizard creatures in a tree. _Well almost everyone is happy._

"Hello Tahiri." Danni said walking closer to the youngest Jedi Knight. Tahiri who was just 17 years old and one of the most effected by the Yuuzhan Vong invasion. At the tender age of 14 she had been captured by a Shaper who tried to maker her into a Yuuzhan Vong Jedi Hunter. Master Shaper Kwaad had inserted all the knowledge and training to make Tahiri think she was a warrior named Riina Kwaad. As the story goes, Riina had been captured early in childhood by the Jedi and giving special implants to be a Jedi. And for the most part the Shaper had succeeded, Tahiri had in effect had two different identities. One was human and another had been Yuuzhan Vong. When she was 16 she nearly went insane as both personalities fought to control her body, neither wanted the other to survive, neither wanted to surrender, neither wanted the other to win. Jaina had told Danni about what she saw during Tahiri's recovery, when she entered Tahiri's mind to help her friend. Jaina had trouble relating to Danni just what she had seen since it was all so surreal anyways. Two Tahiri, one a left handed Jedi and one a right handed Yuuzhan Vong, both with light sabers. Two mirror imagines fighting in eerie concert, neither able to gain a advantage over the other. Jaina had also said that the new Tahiri had told her that Riina Kwaad and Tahiri Veila could not kill the other without destroying themselves. And that Riina Kwaad had been the first to figure it out; in order to survive they had to become one and the same. It took awhile but they finial merged to create this new Tahiri, this Human/Yuuzhan Vong hybrid, an one of a kind Jedi. Tahiri who was raised by the Tusken Raiders on Tatooine, by the Jedi on Yavin 4, by the Yuuzhan Vong on a World ship represented so much but was accepted by very few. Many of this galaxy mistrusted her because she was a Jedi let alone her other heritage. Few of the Yuuzhan Vong could see past her shaping, although respected by many, she is still seen as a abominations. Many of the Jedi, even had trouble accepting her without guarded feelings. Since her merging Tahiri seemed to grow a deeper understanding of the way people thought. Always a outsider she has become even more guarder in her thoughts and ways.

"Tell Sekot that I don't like the joke." Tahiri said looking up at the two lizard creatures still up in the tree chatting between themselves.

"Sorry Tahiri?" Danni asked not really understanding.

"Sekot sent those two to throw seeds at me as a joke." Tahiri said not taking her eyes off the two creatures.

Danni reached out with her growing Force senses but was unable to 'read' the two small creatures, they were Yuuzhan Vong and could not be seen by the Jedi. They were as dark as any Yuuzhan Vong Warrior to any Jedi, as dark as Tahiri herself was at times. Like she was now. Jacen and Tahiri were different in that they could to a degree 'see' what no one else could, that through what Jacen called Vongsense they could 'see' the Yuuzhan Vong and interact with them just like the Jedi could with beings of this galaxy. Jacen had said it was not the Force but through empathy that he reached that level. Jacen had tried to teach Tahiri the same trick but was not as successful, or so they had thought. But Danni still wondered at time just who had the deeper connection. Because of her shaping, Danni often wondered if it was Tahiri who actually was the more connected, since she seemed to understand and control both aspects of the Force.

"Well you can tell Sekot yourself tonight if you wish?" Danni said.

Tahiri shut down her light saber and reattached to her belt. She turn away form the two strange creatures and walked over to Danni. Tahiri, who was only 1.65 meters tall, just a hair over 39 kilograms in weight, with short wavy blond hair, striking green eyes and three scars on her forehead, three scars that mark her as a member of Domain Kwaad, and who would either wear green jumpsuits or body stockings, usually white, green, or black, but always closed up to her neck, showing a just her face and hands. Danni often wonder if she was hiding any scars or tattoos that she might have received that she didn't want anyone else to know about or if she was hiding the fact that she had none. With Tahiri it was always a guess never a known fact.

"So is the great Sekot finally taking time to see lowly me?" She asked.

"Yes," Danni said ignoring the sarcasm in Tahiri's voice. "The representatives from Yuuzhan Vong, Ferroines, and you and I will be there."

"Good," Tahiri said taking a deep breath, "I have wasted enough time as is. I would like to get started on my mission." Tahiri and Danni both turned and started walking back toward the settlement that they have been spending the last three months at. "Whether or not the crew of the _Widowmaker _is alive or dead, I need to find out for sure. For their families peace of mind if nothing else."

"You think you will be able to find them?" Danni asked her.

"I don't know, the _Jade's_ sensors were pretty scrambled when Zonama Sekot jumped into hyperspace, but Master Jade-Skywalker thinks she found the right vector. I will go back to Klasse Ephemora system and start my search there. Maybe I can pick up something in the Force that will help me, at least enough to get a direction if nothing else."

"Could take years to find one ship you know."

"I know but Master Skywalker and Grand Admiral Pellaeon had both requested that I at least try. Master Skywalker thinks a Jedi has the best chance to find them and I think the Imperial Remnant is weaker then they are letting on or they would have done the search themselves. It sounds all nice and proper to accept the Jedi assistance on this mission, especially since it was Corran and I who led Nom Anor to Zonama Sekot in the first place. If he hadn't try to kill Sekot the _Widowmaker _would have never been lost in the first place. But beyond all that with the G.F.F.A. on one side and the Chiss on the other side plus who knows what pirate and mercenary forces that have or will pop up in the aftermath of the war, the Grand Admiral has more to worry about then one lost frigate."

"The same problems that Sekot must also worry about." Danni jumped in trying to get the younger Jedi to see why they hadn't allowed her to leave earlier. Tahiri stopped and looked directly at Danni.

"The _Double Trouble_ wouldn't lead anyone back here, where ever we are." Tahiri said evenly. Danni hid a small sigh, this is not the first time they had this discussion. "There are only three people in the entire galaxy that knows where we are, Sekot, the Magister and you. In the three months we have been here we haven't even seen a suspicious dust mote let alone any probes or ships."

"Yes but if anyone should backtrack your course to here the repercussions would be terrible. There are Rogue Yuuzhan Vong forces still out there, there are many who still wish the Yuuzhan Vong to be wiped out. If anyone found the location of Zonama Sekot it could cause even more blood shed and destruction. Sekot believes it is best if no one found out where we are until the galaxy has had a chance to heal, on both sides. Any ship that leaves from Zonama Sekot could be a danger." Danni looked in to the green eyes of the young Jedi and was unable to read anything from them. "Look it has been 5 months since they disappeared, it has been three months since we have had any contact with the outside galaxy; for all we know they have been found or made their way back to Imperial space."

"All the more reason to let me go, once outside this system I could go back to Klasse Ephemora and contact the Imperials or GA and find out the status of the _Widowmaker_. The point would be leaving Sekot."

"Look Tahiri it is not that Sekot wishes to keep you here against your will or anything, far from it. Sekot knows that you are not happy here and Sekot knows that you never planned to be on Zonama for as long as you have been. Sekot also understands how important this mission is to you. However you must understand that Sekot must balance the risk of you leaving against the risk of being discovered." Danni looked down at Tahiri, usually such arguments have worked in the past but she could tell it was not working today. Tahiri stared up at her, her expression guarded, her eyes unreadable, her presence in the Force indictable.

"But that will change tonight." Tahiri said, not ask.

"Sekot and the Magister is coming down to discuss not only your request but several issues with the War master and Harrar."

"But that will change tonight."

"We'll discuss your request nothing has yet been decided."

"Tell me Danni if you were on board a ship that was lost and mostly likely damaged would you appreciate your fate being left in the hands of a committee?"

Danni narrowed her eyes, her fate had almost been left up to a committee if the Solo twins hadn't risked so much to save her. From the start of the war till the Fall of Coruscant politicians and bureaucrats, like her father, had decided the fate of millions usually deciding that many worlds were not important enough to be bothered with. She knew that her own fate could have easily been the same, not important enough to be bothered with.

"Would you go racing into a unknown situation like Anakin had and get killed without thinking your action through?" She said hoping to get any kind of reaction out of Tahiri.

"Anakin died because of a injury, Danni, on a mission that many felt had to be completed. An injury that would have struck any of us, you were a 'Wild Knight' don't you remember how fast combat was? How quickly even the best laid plans were destroyed within seconds of contact with the enemy?" Tahiri asked, not showing any hint of emotion or acknowledging any pain that might have surfaced by the name of her fallen best friend. "A mission that many didn't return from, a mission that was successful, a mission that changed us all."

"This mission is not about combat it is to avoid contact." Danni said, feeling guilty at trying to hurt Tahiri and irritable that she didn't even come close to achieving her goal. "We must look out for the Common good of all concern."

"And finding the _Widowmaker_ wouldn't help in the long run? If the _Widowmaker_ is found the Imperial Remnant would be very pleased with Sekot and the people of Zonama. That could be a future door to some kind of relationship in the future."

Danni nodded her head reluctantly, true in the future at some point Sekot would want to reach out to the galaxy with the hand of friendship and it would be nice to be remembered for something else besides the home world of the Yuuzhan Vong. Danni was sure that the Jedi, for the most part, would look towards Zonama Sekot with favorable intentions but the rest of the galaxy would need convincing.

"You may have a point there. But on the other hand if they had all died after the hyperspace jump or never came out of the jump Zonama Sekot could get blamed for that also."

"True," Tahiri said resuming their walk back to the settlement, "also they could say that we never even tried to locate them. So if we had at least attempted to locate them they can't say that Sekot was being uncaring since they were Imperials."

"That is why I hate politics." Danni said letting out a breath.

"That is true," Tahiri said with a laugh, "and that is why I usually let the Solo or Skywalker handle that kind of stuff. Even Captain Solo is better at politics then I am. Even though the Jedi stand for that kind of stuff, my training was more in the self defense area, and my Yuuzhan Vong/Tusken Raider heritage is more action based."

"Is it hard to live up to all three at the same time?" Danni asked.

"No not really, the Tusken Raiders were more self centered about things. You had to look out for yourself first then your bantha, family and tribe. In that order, but even that was for a certain reason. In the harsh environment of Tatooine you had to make sure that you took care of yourself first so that you could have the energy to help others. And all three had a code of honor to uphold. In fact there are many overlapping codes between the three and no as many contradiction as you would expect. If one or more conflicted I try to stay true to the Jedi way of live."

"When you say you try, that implies you don't always live up to the Jedi Code?"

"I have never turn to the Dark Side if that is what you are asking." Tahiri said, in a guarded tone, looking out of the corner of her eye at Danni. "I made a promise to Anakin a long time ago that I would never let him down and fall to the dark side. I will live up to that promise. But I'm not perfect, I'm as human and Yuuzhan Vong as the next person. I'll make mistakes."

"In that way I think Jacen and the others are too paranoid, being Jedi doesn't mean you have to be perfect. Yes we have a great power and a great responsibility and when we abuse that power many others are destroyed and lives are ruined. But many of the non-Jedi also have that same power. Look at the Yuuzhan Vong, if you will, they had great power. They came to us from another galaxy, Shimrra could use that power to help not only his people but everyone in this galaxy. Instead he decided to misuse that power and destroy what he wanted. Look at what happened to Coruscant? All that was lost was because of powerful men and women were more interested in what they though was the most important issues, how was this decision going to help them gain power, wealth and fame. Instead of how these decision would save the most lives, planets and such, how they can plan for the long term then in the short term."

"Yes but I,"

"Tahiri," Danni said cutting her off quickly, "Look you said it yourself you make mistakes. And there is nothing wrong with mistakes if you learn from them. It is when you either ignore or fail to learn is when mistakes become bad. Tahiri, I'm not going to lie to you I have no idea what it must be like for you. You are, quite literally, one of a kind. You are the only human/Yuuzhan Vong to ever exist and most likely, since our biology is so different, will ever exist. Not only that but you are a Jedi on top of that. Many people will hate you for no other reason then those two. Add to all that you grew up in the deserts of Tatooine with no real family, no education so you had to play catch up ever since you were nine. If all that wasn't enough you lost the most special person to you at the age of 15." Danni put her arm around the younger woman's shoulders as they kept walking. "Those of us who know the whole story, The Solo's, Skywalker's, Horn, Durron, the War master and other Yuuzhan Vong, me and even Sekot, have nothing but pride in all that you have been able to survive through. Not only have you survive but came out stronger. So even if you do stumbled, even when do you make mistakes, no one I had named will ever think less of you for just making a mistake."

"Thanks Danni." Tahiri said in the first sincere voice that Danni had heard her use in months. "I need to hear that." Danni could feel her tense slightly under her arm. "Especially since, well you seen how the others acted around me."

Danni had to nod her head, it had been tough for many of the Jedi and non-Jedi to get use to who Tahiri was now. Many had tried to be opened minded about her.

"But even the Solo's, even Han and Leia at times would give me a look that seemed to be judging me. They didn't mean too I know, they had been better to me then anyone else in the galaxy. Han and Leia helped me through Anakin's death, my merging and love me as if I was a member of their family. But even sometimes they would slip up. I had hoped once I was around more Yuuzhan Vong people and learned from them I would find something in common with them. But you seen how they act around me."

Again Danni silently agreed with Tahiri. While the Yuuzhan Vong respected Danni, Tekli and Tahiri because they were Jedi, they were friendly towards her and Tekli. With Tahiri, they were stiffer, formal and more reserved. They were honored when any of the three would join them for meals or to visit with. But with Tahiri around they were more serious events, with story telling and few jokes. Whether Shamed, Warrior, Priest, Indent, or Shaper; they all viewed her with veiled and sometimes not so veiled contempt. She was the Abomination, she was the One-who-was-shaped, she represented all that was wrong and all that did go wrong. It was not fair, it was not right, but it was the way things were.

"Like I said Tahiri, I don't know what it must be like to be you."

"Well, I been a outsider before and I adjusted, I will adjust again. Now if you excuse me I want to go make sure I am all packed. I want to be ready to leave when I get the word." Tahiri said suddenly speeding up and heading to the shelter the three Jedi shared.

Danni stopped moving, watching the back of the small Jedi as she ducked into the shelter. Danni let her gaze drift over the settlement that the Yuuzhan Vong had grown, it was one of the large ones, this was where the War master, High Priest Harrar and others made their homes. She also opened her mind up to the intelligence behind Zonama, to allowed Sekot access to what she had seen and is seeing. To allow Sekot to understand there was even better reason to allow Tahiri to leave on her mission. To Danni there was no place on Zonama Sekot that would allow one young Jedi to gain the peace she so richly deserves.


	2. Chapter 2

Tahiri, sitting behind the controls of her ship, took a deep breath as she pushed the controls to the hyperspace engines forward to drop her modified Model 47 light freighter, the _Double Trouble_, in to real space. It was the ship that Master Skywalker had assigned to her before she left with Zonama Sekot. The Model 47 light freighter was a 30 meter long ship with a cargo capacity of about 100 metric tons. It was small enough that it only took a pilot and co-pilot to operate it and to avoid any pirate activity that she any come across.

Her friends from the Wraiths' had helped in upgrading the old freighter. Kell had installed, with the help of Han Solo, a single quad-laser cannon on the top of her ship. With the new enhance targeting computer interface which allowed her to target, using a VR-head set over her left eye, and fire from the cockpit. The training it took her to get use to the VR set up was kind of comical and Face wasn't mad at her for very long when she accidentally shot up his X-wing. But the cannon had 360 degree radius and could target any ship within a certain radius of her line of sight. The trick of course was to remember what she was seeing in the VR display was not always the same thing she saw out the cockpit windows, she would have to learn how to separate the two. They also had installed two Concussion Missile tubes, with auto reload for 3 shots per tube. That and increases shields, new hyper drive, hyper-communications, improved sub light engines plus all kinds of goodies to avoid trouble, to sneak up on targets, fake Ids' for the ship, special shielding to confused most standard scans, a fake 'escape pod' which had enough hardware and software that she could spy on any G. A., Imperial or known smugglers groups communication. Her ship was like her; small, deadly if pushed but hid it's secrets well. 

Master Skywalker didn't look all that please when they were done, Captain Solo had said her ship would be the envy of any smuggler. Leia Organa-Solo, Han's wife and mother of her best friend Anakin, just rolled her eyes and called him a nerf herder. Master Jade-Skywalker had reminded her husband that she would be traveling alone and mostly in uncharted territory and most of the intelligence gathering equipment would be an asset. Not only would it help her at staying out of trouble but it would be a help in any future exploration of the Unknown Region. So Master Skywalker let the changes stand, but he warned her not get in to any trouble. 

"What are you going to call your ship Tahiri?" Leia had asked.

"_Double Trouble_." She had answered straight faced, only Master Skywalker seemed to get the joke. He gave her a small smile and just nodded.

After it was all said and done she lost 4 of the six cabins, but she could control just about every function from her pilot seat, had a galley with enough food to last her a few months and the freedom to explore the galaxy, to help those who needed help, to be the kind of Jedi she hope she could be.

She saw the stars drop from the elongated streaks that you see in hyperspace to the star studded sky that one would normally see in space. Laid out before her was the system of Klasse Ephemora and the 6th planet in the system. A huge gas giant that seemed to fill her view port. It was slightly more massive then the gas giant that Yavin 4 had orbited. This is where Master Skywalker and Jacen Solo had found Zonama Sekot just barely 7 months ago. This is where her and Corran Horn had come with Master Shaper Yim, High Priest Harrar, and the disguised Nom Anor, who had pretended to be the prophet of the Shamed Ones. This was the last known location of the _Widowmaker _before Sekot had to jump into hyperspace to undo the damage to the hyper drive that Nom Anor had caused trying to destroy Zonama Sekot for Overlord Shirrma or Onimi, depending on what story you believe. No matter how many times Corran Horn and Master Skywalker told her it was not her fault, she knew that she could not rest until she found them.

A beeping noise from beside her jarred her away from her thoughts. Her only companion on the ship was a light purple color with gold trim R2 unit, who was in a droid socket that would normally hold the co-pilot seat. He was a impressive looking droid no doubt about it. The droid, like her and her ship, had more to him then met the eye. Along with the standard mechanical programs and hardware to help with ship board repairs, he had spy programs to help her in gathering intelligence, some of the best slicing programs the Wraiths had, a special modification to by-pass any restraining bolt attached to him, and a hidden compartment for her light saber. She still had yet to give him a name, naming was a important part of the Yuuzhan Vong and human cultural, and wanted sometime to get to know him before she did that.

"Yep this is the place." She said to him after she read the special translating screen, she had a modified 'worm' from the Shapers which would let her hear what he was saying and translate without the need of a computer but she only had a limited number. She would only use them if she had no choice, although she keep one within reach of her chair just incase. "Are you getting any kind of reading yet?"

The droid responded with a negative, no real surprise there after all it had been 5 months.. The drive trail had been washed out by Zonama Sekot jump to hyperspace and by the normal solar winds that the primary created. 

"Did you study that vector from Mara Jade-Skywalker while you were waiting for me?" The droid responded with what sound like a sarcastic yes. "Sorry, ok enter that information with the local gravity fields, direction of the planets 5 months ago in relation to where Zonama Sekot was at the time, the speed and direction of the _Widowmaker_. See if you can get a course that makes any kind of sense." Tahiri swung her seat around so she could reach the hyper-comm. unit. "While you are doing all that I going to see what I can get on the net."

The droid beep cheerfully while Tahiri attempted to access the Holo-net. The first thing she did was see if there had been any updates for her. She had a few, mostly personal letters from Han and Leia, Sannah her friend from the Jedi Academy, one from Jaina ( which surprised her Jaina was not very good at remembering to write letters ) a couple from Master Skywalker, one marked official and two marked personal. She sent the personal mail to storage, where she could read them later, and started reading the official stuff first. Most of them were weekly updates on the state of the galaxy since she left, she noticed a increase of smuggling, pirate activity, and other such activities. No surprise there, Corran and the Wraiths had warned her that such activities would increases due to the lack of control the Galactic Alliance would have in many areas of the galaxy. The galaxy was a much different looking place then it was just four years ago. Many systems, who had not been effected directly by the war and consider to be far enough away from rogue Yuuzhan Vong, had decided to set up shop on their own. There were at least 15 new confederations who say they are independent of Denon, the new home of the G.F.F.A., rule and from the Imperials. Most of the Yuuzhan Vong rebels were shoring up their defenses in the Hutt Space, a few in and around Yavin system. That they would stay in the Yavin system worried Tahiri, her friend Sannah was a Melodie who lived on the moon Yavin 8. She would have to undergo a transformation, in which her body would grow gills to live underwater with the rest of her adult species, soon and any hope of survive her friend had would be in getting her down to Yavin 8. That is, of course, if there was anyone still alive on Yavin 8. The Imperials had also been busy snatching up new systems. They increased their size with no real protest from the GA, which means they planets were mostly like too far away to deal with and help repair. The Chiss had also sent a map of their space. Tahiri wondered if what they say they control and what they actually can control was the same thing. _Hopefully I won't find out the hard way._

She got done reading all the official mail, filed and sent off her official report on what she had been up to for the past three months and what she is planning to do. She then downloaded all the new maps into the navigation computer. She looked at the ship clock and compared it with the time on Denon. She saw she had about four hours before Master Skywalker would be up so she decided to get a cup of hot chocolate, relax and read some personal mail.

"Well I'm very happy to hear from you Tahiri," Master Skywalker was saying, his voice coming from the bridge speakers. Since the droid was still doing it's investigation, Tahiri decided to call in to Master Skywalker while she waited. She was surprise, although she knew she shouldn't have been, when as she was reaching to make the call her comm. unit announced a incoming call from him. She could tell that Han and Leia and Luke and Mara had been worried about her from their letters. It should have annoyed her but instead it made her feel, well it made her feel at home. A feeling she had been missing for the past three months, something she hadn't even known she was missing it until she read those letters. It made her feel less like a outsider and more like a member of the family. "We were starting to wonder if anything happened to you."

"Well you can thank Sekot for that, IT wouldn't let me go until IT felt like it." She said taking a sip of her hot chocolate, something Luke and Mara had taught her to make. "I was ready to go weeks ago, but Sekot kept putting off the decision."

"Why did Sekot wait so long in your opinion?"

"To drive me insane." She said waving her free hand in the air as if he could see it. From the gentle chuckle coming from the speaker she almost felt that he could see her, or more likely, knew her well enough to know what she was doing. There was a long pause as Master Skywalker waited for her to explain. She knew what he was doing and why but it didn't help any when it came to fight against it. "Well, driving me insane might have been a extra bonus. Danni told me that Sekot was worried about any potential ships in the area tracing my course back to Zonama. Sekot wanted to make sure they had their defense up and ready just incase."

"Sounds reasonable to me."

"I agree," she growled out. "Which is what kept me from complaining for the first couple weeks." She took another sip of her drink, enjoying the warm feeling spreading out from her belly. When Master Skywalker failed to say anything Tahiri let out a sigh she knew he could hear. "Look, lets just say it was a nice place to visit but I don't want to live there."

"Tahiri what is wrong?" Master Skywalker asked after another long pause. "Are you still disappointed that none of the seed partners would 'join' with you?" After the Battle to Reclaim Coruscant, Jaina and Tahiri attempted again to let the seed partners to chose them. And for the second time they were both rejected. It annoyed her to no end when she was one of the only two Jedi who tried and got rejected. But as annoyed as Tahiri was, it was nothing to the feelings coming from Jaina. Her parents and Jacen tried to calm her down, not that it helped much. Once Jaina gets started it is easier to stop a supernova. Tahiri hadn't dwell on why, not until a few weeks ago.

"Yes." She said softly which was quickly follow by, "No.", and then by an, "I don't know!" She got up and started pacing around her small bridge aware that the droid was watching her. "I mean it doesn't matter really, there is nothing you can do to help." Then so quietly she thought he wouldn't be able to hear her. "No one can help me."

"You may be correct." She spun around to stare at the speaker as if it turned into an amphistaff. _He didn't just say what I thought …_

"What did you say?"

"I said you may be correct, Tahiri. I may never be able to fully be able to help you, there maybe no one that can help you. But we will never know how to help you if you won't tell us what is wrong." Luke paused for a moment then continued when it became clear that she wasn't go to say anything. "Tahiri you situation is unique, that is true, but only the circumstances are different. Many people go through life feeling that no one can understand them or help them. While it is true I can't have what happened to you undone with a wave of a hand, if I could I would, but I can listen. You would be surprise at the power of just knowing that there is someone who you can talk to, knowing there is someone you can trust even if they can't fix all the problems."

Tahiri sat back down in her pilot's chair, crossed her arms, and glared at the speaker. She got this picture of Master Skywalker sitting in front of his communication setup with a calm but knowing smile.

"I bet this is why Master Jade-Skywalker tried so hard to kill you when you guys were younger." She said quietly, not quietly enough since she heard amused chuckle on the other end. "I overheard Danni and Tekli talking a couple weeks ago, they were discussing the Yuuzhan Vong altitude towards me. It seemed that while the some of the Yuuzhan Vong did like to meet me, many wish I would just go away. They see me as a symbol of what was wrong with them. I represent all that was evil in Supreme Overlord Shirrma court. Some even say it was my shaping that was the beginning of the end, that if Master Kwaad hadn't attempted to shape me the gods would never had turn their back on the Yuuzhan Vong."

"Even the Shamed Ones, who practically worship the Jeedai, who honor all that Anakin Solo had done, would treat me with a certain distance. Danni and Tekli had to force them to invite me to their dinners, in to their homes. They hate me! They still think I'm abomination !"

"Tahiri …"

"I just wanted to go somewhere, somewhere that I was not feared, not hated for what I'm!" She could feel her frustration come to a boil again and the tears fall. "The Yuuzhan Vong fear and hate me, most of the humans I come in contact fear and hate me because I'm a Jedi and a Yuuzhan Vong. Admit it Master Skywalker, even most of the Jedi are uncomfortable around me." She stopped and wiped away some of the tears. "Only one person never question who I am, what I am."

"Anakin."

"Anakin," she repeated softly, nodding her head as if he could see her, "he never question who I was. He even said once that no matter how much I changed I will always be 'Tahiri' because I'm too stubborn to be anyone else." She let the pause build before she continued, "I tried Master Skywalker, I really did. I thought they were just being stiff and formal around me due to the fact I was such a well known Jedi. I thought it was just me imagining things, that I was just being paranoid like I always am."

"Must have been quite a blow to you."

"Not as big of a blow as when I found out why the seed partners rejected me. Danni and Tekli were also discussing that. I don't know why they rejected Jaina twice but they wouldn't bond with me due to the fact they found 'dark spots' in me."

"Dark spots?"

"That is what they're calling it. The parts of me that is Yuuzhan Vong, they leave dark spots that the seed partners can't see into. Since they can't peer into every corner of my soul they decided not to take a risk with me." She turned her head so she could stared out at the gas giant that the _Double Trouble_ was orbiting, thinking how beautiful it must have looked from Zonama Sekot during certain times of the year. "Luke, three years ago I made a stupid mistake and it seems that every time I think I have gotten past that mistake someone slaps me in the face with it. When do I finally get forgiven for making a stupid childish mistake?"

"I don't know Tahiri." Luke said after a long pause, "you have worked hard to move beyond what happened to you on Yavin 4. Han, Leia, Mara, Corran, the twins and I are all proud that you have done as much as you have. To us, you have nothing to prove but …" He stop with a sigh.

"Yea but," She said, turning back to the communications panel behind the droid. "Look Master Skywalker, don't get me wrong. You and your family have always made me feel like I'm a part of your family. The letters you and the Solo's sent me," She let out a smile. "those letters gave me a very big lift today. It is just I wish the rest of the galaxy would be as understanding as you."

"Thank you Tahiri."

The droid beeped and whistled, when Tahiri looked at the translator she saw that he had found 5 possible routes that the _Widowmaker_ may have taken.

"Master Skywalker, the droid thinks it has some ideas where to look. I want to get moving and check them out."

"Very well, Tahiri. Be careful, if you need help don't hesitate to call for back up. There is no shame in asking for help."

"I will Master Skywalker, oh one more thing."

"Yes?"

"In the last letter Mrs. Solo said that they were going to the Corporate Sector to over haul the _Millennium Falcon_ and that they were now officially 'semi-retired'. What does that mean?"

"I'm not really sure Tahiri; Han, Leia and C 3PO were pretty closed mouth about it. But I'm sure they will be fine, this is them we are talking about."

"Right," Tahiri said feeling her smile broaden, "let me guess you have about half the Jedi ready to go pull them out of whatever trouble they get into."

"Tahiri," Master Skywalker said, Tahiri thought she could hear a smile in his voice, "This my sister; the former Chief of State, one of the best Ambassadors in GA, a Jedi in her own right. Han has been a General, he been a successful business man, he been bouncing around the galaxy for over 40 years with large amounts of experience in dealing with a large number of different cultures. Do you really think I would be worried enough about them to have half the Jedi standing by to help them get out of trouble?" He paused dramatically then added under his breath, "I figured it would take at least half the Jedi and the 5th Fleet to help them get out of whatever trouble they get into."

"Maybe!" Tahiri said laughing out loud, "I report in as soon as I find out anything, Master Skywalker. Say hello to Artoo, Ben and Master Jade-Skywalker for me, please."

"I will and I hope to hear from you soon, Tahiri. May the Force be with you."

"Thank you, may the Force be with you too." Tahiri said as she closed down the connection. She turned her seat around to face forward and looked out the view port. For the first time in weeks she was smiling, her spirits greatly lifted. "Alright lets have that first course, please. We have some people to bring home.


	3. Chapter 3

"I didn't say that it was a bad name," Tahiri said giving the droid a pained look. "I just said that 'R2-L616' was not really a name but just a identification number. A name should be unique to the bear of that name, something that makes people remember that individual. When people see you I want them to say 'Hey there goes" … well there goes whatever name we come up with not "Hey there goes some droid'."

BUT R2-D2 IS JUST AN IDENTIFICATION NUMBER AS IS C-3PO? The droid said from his position outside the 'escape pod'.

Tahiri was in the communication and decryption pod, running training programs on slicing, while they were on their way to the 5th system in as many days. The first four courses that the droid had projected as possible locations for the _Widowmaker_ had all turned out to be wrong. They traveled just far enough along each course till they passed the larges body or system that was big enough to pull the _Widowmaker_ from hyperspace. Tahiri was thinking that the Imperial ship must have damaged its hyper drive during the jump caused by Zonama Sekot since they hadn't yet returned to Imperial or GA Space on their own. If she was right then they would be near by, so it made sense to travel only so far along a course since they wouldn't be able to reenter hyperspace on their own. 

__

Unless they fixed their hyper drive long enough to get back into hyperspace and then loss it again. She had thought, gloomily to herself, when they first started this search. But it made sense to start this way and it felt right. If this course also proved to be a dead end, her and the droid would start back at the beginning and do a system-by-system check in a circler pattern, a search pattern that could take many years to complete.

"Well true but Artoo kind of rolls off the tongue and sounds like a name anyways. 3PO is strange enough that you would remember him no matter what people call him. I want to pick a name that not only sets you apart from all other R2 units but also lets people know what kind of droid you are. Names can describe and inform as well as identify. Understand?"

NO.

"Ok, lets try it this way then," Tahiri said releasing a sigh. "This ship's name is _Double Trouble_, I chose that name because it tells the universe something about the ship. She looks like an ordinary freighter, to the eye and to ships scanners, but she is also a very advance intelligence gathering ship, with enough firepower and shielding to ward off any attack. But in a way it also tells the galaxy a bit about me. I'm a double, I have Human and Yuuzhan Vong heritage, and if pushed I can be trouble for anyone who wishes to harm me." She looked away from him and back at the screen, her training exercise was not going well.

I DO NOT UNDERSTAND BUT YOU ARE MY MISTRESS AND I WILL FOLLOW ANY ORDER YOU GIVE ME.

She threw him a frown, both because of what he said and because she just failed her training exercise, again.

"Please don't refer to me as your 'mistress', I don't like thinking of you as something I own. I think of you as someone who is my partner, I hope that one day you will also think of me in the same way." She then turned back to her work. "And hopefully I get a hang off slicing some day too."

TAHIRI, I AM PROGRAMMED TO BE ABLE TO COMPLETE ANY SLICING OR CODE BREAKING THAT YOU REQUIRE. WHY DO YOU FEEL THE NEED TO ATTEMPT TO LEARN THE NECESSARY SKILLS TO COMPLETE THE SAME TASK?

"Never hurts to be prepared, you know. There may be times when I have to attempt to do this while you are doing an even more important task or be in area that would not allow droids in. You just never know, that is also why I am having you teach me how to repair the engines. The more I can assist you the better off we are."

HOW ARE YOU DOING ON THE SLICING TRAINING PROGRAM?

"About as well as I did on the repair simulation yesterday." She answered grimly. "I never had been very technology suave, even before the 'old Tahiri Veila' and 'Riina Kwaad' joined. At the Academy I had to play catch up with all the other trainees, I learned just enough to work things not how to fix them. Not like my friend Anakin." She felt a sad smile form on her face as she remembered the most special person she has ever known. "When we were little it was spooky how well he could work machines. He could just tell, by using the Force, exactly what was wrong and he knew how to fix it. It didn't matter what 'it' was or how badly damaged it was he could fix it."

WILL WE EVER WORK WITH ANAKIN? HE WOULD BE AN ASSET TO OUR TEAM IN FUTURE.

"No, no he won't be joining us, he died about 3 years ago." Tahiri said feeling a stab of pain; the pain of what had been lost. "So our team is just you and I, my purple friend. That is why I am glad you are here and willing to help me learn the skills needed." Her training program beeped at her; once again she failed the test.

DID YOU COMPLETE THE TASK CORRECTLY?

"No," she huffed out, "I wouldn't feel so bad if this wasn't the easiest problem in the package. How long before we drop out of hyperspace?"

10 STANDARD MINUTES.

"Ok, we better head up to the bridge," Tahiri said as she locked down the computer access. "We'll go in the same way as before, hang around the outer system and scan before we head in."

AFFIRMATIVE TAHIRI. He beeped as she closed the hatch. Thanks to the worm she was able to understand him as well as if he spoke Basic. As they headed to bridge, she ran her hand along the top of his dome.

"You know I may not have Anakin to help me out anymore but I believe you will more then make up for the technical aspects that I lack."

I AM GLAD, I'M WILL MAKE EVERY EFFORT TO ASSIST YOU IN ANY TASK THAT YOU HAVE.

Tahiri sat down and swung her chair around to face out the view port, she left the worm in her ear for now. She liked being able to understand him without the need of another computer translating for her. As long as she remember to take it out once a day or else it would burn itself out.

"I hope this time we find some kind of clue to where the _Widowmaker_ is, I hate the idea of having to search each and every system in this area of the galaxy." Tahiri said as she put on her piloting gloves.

AFFIRMATIVE I CALCULATE IT WOULD TAKE 24.876 YEARS TO COMPLETE SUCH A SEARCH.

"And we don't have that much food, water or air on board to look for that long. Nor do we have enough fuel."

YES AND RETURNING BACK TO GALACTIC FEDERATION OF FREE ALLIANCES OR IMPERIAL SPACE FOR FUEL AND SUPPLIES WOULD ADD MANY YEARS TO THE SEARCH.

"Yea, then it wouldn't be a search and rescue mission, just a search mission." She finished strapping in and sat back to wait for the timer to run down zero. "Of course many all ready think that this is already just a search mission. The Imperials can't afford to take any ships out of the line to look for their missing frigate. Judging by the latest updates the GA can't spear any extra ships to help out either. Things are getting messy over there."

WHAT ABOUT THE CHISS GOVERNMENT?

"They are the wild chip alright, they sent a official message through Col. Jag Fel stating that they will keep a eye out for it. If the _Widowmaker_ shows up in their space they will let the Imperials and us know about it. Other then that they wish for us to respect their boarder." She looked over at the droid, who was watching her with his large cam. "In other words they will help as long as they don't have to do anything."

THE SHORT HISTORY WITH THE CHISS GOVERNMENT SUGGESTS THAT THEY ARE ISOLATIONIST. EVEN THE IMPERIALS, WHO HAVE A LONGER HISTORY WITH THE CHISS, HAVE STATED THAT THE CHISS GOVERNMENT TO BE DIFFICULT AND SECRETIVE TO EVEN WHAT THEY WOULD CONSIDER EXTREME.

"I supposed that you could see them in that light, personally I think they just don't understand us very well yet. For the past 50 years we have undergone massive changes and social upheavals, the Chiss believe that all that change is a clear sign that we are indiscipline and doomed to self-destruct. That is why they played such a small role in the Yuuzhan Vong war they didn't want to get dragged down with us." Tahiri gave the droid a smile. "Once we show them that what they perceive as a weakness is really our strengths they might start opening up more." Tahiri swung back to face the control panel, the droid was quietly chirping to itself. Hopefully it was thinking about what she had said and not thinking that she was crazy. Tahiri was sure that one day in the future the Chiss government will learn to trust and understand the GA and, like the Imperials, reach out and at least open the door enough to work together. It was a big galaxy out there more then enough for all to share.

ONE MINUTE TO REVERSION.

"Very well, stand by to drop out of hyperspace." Tahiri watched the counter drop to zero and pushed the hyper drive controls forward. Tahiri saw that once again the droid had planned the course perfectly, they were at the outside boundary of the star system. She could see a slightly brighter star shinning in the forward view port. "Good work once again. Ok start scanning for any signs of the _Widowmaker_ and any other signs of civilization. I will do the electro magnetic scans while you handle the communication scan."

Within minutes Tahiri found signs of what may have been a hyperspace equipped vehicle traveling through this system within the past few months. It showed that the ship entered the system from roughly the same course that Tahiri and the droid had followed and there was no evidence that any other ships had been through the system. The droid also reported nothing on the communication scan to suggest that there was any civilized world in system.

"Do me a favor please. Check out these abnormal electro-magnetic signals coming from the third planet. I try to raise the _Widowmaker_ on the hyperspace comm."

YES TAHIRI.

"_Widowmaker, Widowmaker _This is the GA freighter _Double Trouble_, are you receiving my signal?" She watched the screen for any indication of the Imperials transmitting a return single. She thought she picked up a very weak signal from the general location but it so weak that it could be anything really. "This is the Galactic Alliance freighter _Double Trouble_ calling the Imperial ship _Widowmaker _do you receive this transmission?"

TAHIRI, THOSE STRANGE ELECTRO-MAGNETIC SIGNALS THAT YOU FOUND ARE NOT NATURAL; THEY ARE AN EXTREMELY PRIMITIVE FORM OF COMMUNICATION.

"What?"

THE CREATURES THAT INHABIT THE THIRD PLANET ARE USING ELECTRO-MAGNETIC ENERGY TO TRANSMIT VOICE AND VIDEO OVER SHORT PLANETARY DISTANCES. THE HISTORICAL REFERENCES CALL SUCH ENERGY WAVES AS "RADIO WAVES".

"Radio? I never heard of that!"

CORRECT, IT IS A HIGHLY INEFFICIENT FORM OF COMMUNICATIONS. THE RADIO WAVES CAN BE EASILY DISTURBED BY SOLAR ACTIVITY, THEY ARE SLOW TRAVELING AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT, CAN BE NON-DIRECTIONAL, EASILY INTERCEPTED. FOR SUCH SHORT DISTANCES SUCH AS PLANETARY USE IT IS MOST EFFECTIVE BUT ONCE SPACE TRAVEL IS COMMENCED RADIO IS TOO SLOW TO BE USED. THIS IS THE SECOND RECORDED USE OF 'RADIO' SINCE BEFORE THE FORMATION OF THE REPUBLIC.

Tahiri read the specifications of the 'Radio' technology that the droid had recovered from the archives. She shook her head in amazement that any one would ever use it. Even on a planetary scale it seemed to have more problems then it was worth. She saw a reference to the fact that the people of Adumar had also used such primitive technology until brought in the New Republic by General Antilles shortly after she was born.

"I wonder if this is another so-called lost colony like Adumar?" She asked out loud. "Can you bring up a signal for me to listen too?"

CERTAINLY TAHIRI, CHANNEL 00-34.

Tahiri listen to the signal and was unable to understand what it was saying. Whatever language they used down there it was not any form of Basic she was familiar with nor any languages that the ship's computer was familiar with either.

TAHIRI I FOUND THE _WIDOWMAKER_!

"What? Where!"

COMMUNICATION CHANNEL 00-267, THEY HAVE BOTH AUDIO AND VIDEO ON THAT CHANNEL.

Tahiri switched to that channel and saw what she has been looking for. In the center of smoking ruins of a city on a good size island was the wreckage of the Imperial Frigate _Widowmaker. _The picture suggested that it was taken from some kind of craft high above the island. The _Widowmaker_ was severely damaged, that must have been caused by the crash landing, and the city it was sitting in was all but destroyed. The picture swung out over the ocean and Tahiri could see about a hundred strange ships floating on the surface of the ocean. Several of the strange looking crafts had puffs of smoke coming from pipes on the top of the ships, but they also had smaller puffs coming from pipes on the side of ship. The cam that was recording all this suddenly swung back to the island. Tahiri saw the shields of the _Widowmaker _shimmer and spark as if something struck it. Something fell short of the shield and Tahiri could see huge explosion and smoke come from the object. Other objects also began striking the shields and landing near by. The cam view switch to one near to the ground, she could see what appeared to be a human male with a funny bowl shaped head gear and something that reminded her of her flight vest around his chest area. He was sitting down behind a ruined wall taking excitedly to the cam. She had no idea what he was saying but he seemed to be happy about something. The cam turned away from the man and focused on other men who were dressed similarly to the first, each was carrying a backpack and some kind of weapon in their hands as they moved from cover to cover. Tahiri's brain finally kicked in and she figured out what they were doing. These were soldiers and they were planning to attack the _Widowmaker_. After 5 months someone had found the lost ship and she knew she didn't have enough firepower to make any difference in a battle.

"**Fas**!"

"This is the Galactic Alliance freighter _Double Trouble_ to Imperial Frigate _Widowmaker_, do you copy?"

For the past five days Tahiri and the droid had slowly approached the third planet, gathering intelligence on the humanoids that inhabit the planet. It was much more difficult then she first imagined. They were so primitive that she had to think out of the box to get the information she needed.

There were plenty of 'radio' transmissions, with audio and video and both military and commercial signals, but without a solid translation of the languages it was hard to understand. The droid has found about 5 primary languages with about 8 minor ones. He has been working night and day trying to get an accurate translation but as he reminded her, he was not a protocol droid. So even though they had hours and hours of recordings they could only understand a small fraction of the signals.

The droid also found that there was nothing like the holo-net found on this planet. Only about 4 of the 35 separate nations had any computer technology. Civilian computer use was almost non-existent and the government use was slow and complicated. Instead of using satellites and data streams, like the kind she grew up with, they had each computer running lines directly to a central computer which in turn had lines running to other central computer cores. The data lines were also the same as the lines military, government and civilians use to communicate with one another. These data lines didn't allow for much data to flow and it actually kept the rate of transfer to a small amount. The droid said it was hard for him to slow down his work to the speed of these computers; it was written in a simple binary code, navigation was a nightmare as was trying to find a point to access them in the first place. He had found a satellite that he can used to download into the main computer core for the most technical proficient state.

Tahiri used her time to get a handle on their war technology. She found that they had no real space capacity, with only a limited number of satellites in a low orbit. It seems that only two of the 4 major powers had the capability to launch the huge chemical rockets that they use. The satellites seemed to be pointed towards the planet so there was no real danger of them being used against her. Their primitive scanners, or 'radar' as they called it, had a limited range and power. Her ships shields and anti-detection devices should make the _Double Trouble_ all but invisible except to visual scanners Although she could get as close as to 563 kilometers to the surface without worrying about detection from the natives of this world, to be on the safe side she stayed in the shadow of the single moon. Their aircraft was as different as different could be. Some had rotating airfoils at the nose of the flying crafts or spaced out on the wings. Others had very primitive engines under the wings or at the rear of the crafts. The rotating airfoils seem to be more numerous then the 'jet' crafts, so they must have just discovered how to make them. Both were slower then any Howlrunner she has seen. In fact some speeders were faster then most of these crafts were and more maneuverable. Some were small and most likely fighter craft while others, judging by some of the pictures she saw, looked to be bombers. At least that seems to be the role they were playing, also they were not very accurate. In the video of the attack on _Widowmaker_ she could see the explosion 'walk' towards the great ship but more often then not miss the ship and hit their own men on the ground. The flying craft had few missiles, at least that she could see, but seem to have a large supply of slugs such as the kind that the Sand People used.

The crafts out on the ocean were another interesting surprise. They had crafts big enough to carry 3 squadrons of those strange airships all the y way down to small, quick, and very maneuverable crafts that held about 5 men. There were also ships with 12 huge slug guns, 3 slug throwers in each turret, which seems to be used mostly to bomb the _Widowmaker_. _At least they were more accurate then the bombers, _she thought wearily. They also had transport ships unloading troops and supplies. 

The troops themselves had a wide range of slug throwers. From individual rifles similar to the kind that her tribe carried, to larger slug thrower that required two men to operate and had a high rate of fire if the videos they have shown about them was any indication. They also had ground vehicles that carried about five men that were on some kind of treads, like the Sand crawlers the Jawas used, that carried a small slug thrower and one large pipe version such as on some of the sea craft carried. They were not that fast but they had no trouble getting around the ruins of the city. They had wheeled vehicles to get troops and supplies over land but not up to actual combat area.

Over all she hadn't seen anything that could damage the _Double Trouble_ or even the _Widowmaker_ even in its ruined shape. _Now is not the time to get sloppy._ She reminded herself several times, _just because you didn't see something that can harm you, that doesn't mean they don't have it._

The fact that the information that the droid could retrieve from the computer network was all written data and no video and the fact they couldn't understand everything they were getting from the radio waves made her nervous about missing some critical piece of the puzzle that could come back and hunt her down later. So with the droid back in the pod doing his thing she was on the bridge trying to contact the _Widowmaker_. Since the shields were still active and the fact that the people of this planet were united in the attempt to capture her gave Tahiri hope that someone was still alive down there. She started out near the moon that orbits around the planet and gradually drifts further and further lower in to the atmosphere. She was now at the lowest limit that she wanted to be and still no clear signal was returned. She hoped it was because the antenna had been damaged.

"_Widowmaker_, this is the Galactic Alliance freighter _Double Trouble_ are you receiving my signal?"

Then she heard what she has been searching for and by the tone of the answer they too had found their sign of hope.

"Are you really there?" Some one said in Imperial accented Basic. The power of the transmission was low and the quality was poor but she heard them.

"Affirmative _Widowmaker_, your signal is weak can you boost your power?"

"I don't believe it … I don't. Hey Lt! Get the Captain we have been found! Yes, yes I talking to her now! Who did you say you were again?" The voice was coming back sounding as excited as she felt.

"This is Galactic Alliance freighter _Double Trouble_ and I am Jedi Knight Tahiri."

"She says she a Jedi Knight! Yea, yea she is still there … Jedi the Captain is on the way please stand by." In the background she could make out what sounded like cheering and yelling, the man who she was talking to sound like he was close to tears. "Please don't go anywhere … we been found."


	4. Chapter 4

"Correct Captain, Master Skywalker and Grand Admiral Pellaeon sent me out to find you. Sorry it took so long but I have had some trouble getting here." Tahiri said, trying to boast the gain on the signal. She also had to keep an eye on the scanners to make sure the natives could not detect her.

"That is ok Jedi Tahiri, the fact is you are here now. How big is your ship and is there anyone else coming to assist you?"

"Right now it is just me and a droid, I'll have to contact the GA or Imperials for any back up. My ship is a Model 47 freighter and holds about 100 metric tons of cargo."

She heard Captain Arien Yage let lose a large sigh. She was quiet for so long Tahiri thought she lost the signal again.

"Captain?"

"Jedi Tahiri, we need to be evacuated as soon as possible the situation down here is extremely volatile. I am sending you everything that we have on this planet. You must get the Imperial or GA to send enough force to get us off planet and stage a rescue of 5 members of my crew that was captured one month ago."

"Droid are you receiving the file?" Tahiri asked into the intercom.

YES TAHIRI, the droid answered from the pod. I AM REVIEWING THE INFORMATION NOW.

"I have the files Captain, could you give me a quick run down?"

"I have lost 600 hundred of my crew members when we crashed on this planet, we have one power cell still operational; we have only about one week worth of power left maybe less. Our shields are slowly failing, it's not that the natives are using powerful weapons but they are throwing so much at us that it is wearing them down. Our landing bays were both destroyed; all Tie fighters and shuttles were destroyed. Weapons are down to two turrets; we don't have enough power to fire more then 50 shots. Food supplies running low, the water here has to be treated, air is breathable. The natives have been attacking for the past 3 standard months. A squad of stromtroopers, my second in command and Dr. Hegerty were taken captive during an attempt to work out some kind of deal with the natives. The nation that has them is "Kingdom of Hyter", under the rule of King Ferent."

"How were they taken captive?"

"Miss. Tahiri, we were desperate for any kind of help. Even before the first ship was in sight I was trying to contact anyone who could help us. We are lost, damaged beyond our abilities to repair, surrounded by aliens who want nothing more kill those who trusted me to see them home safely. Then the Kingdom of Hyter contacted us they said that they were willing to help. They told me that they understood that we had not landed here on purpose and wanted to meet with some of us to work out some kind of solution. I broke procedure, I was willing to work with them." Tahiri could hear the self-approach in the older woman's voice. Tahiri could easily see her sitting up at nights beating her self up for the lost of her crew. "I sent my XO and a squad to work things out, Dr. Hegerty went along to advise since she has more experience dealing with alien races then anyone else on my ship. But it had been a rouse; as soon as they step on the ship they were attacked with some kind of knock out gas. The storm troopers were physically over taken since they had filters that blocked the gas. King Ferent's father was on this island when we crashed. And as we learned later every world leader and most of their families, except one, was on this bloody island when we crashed. They have some pretty stiff penalties for attacking leaders of nations, in fact in all the wars these people have fought over the years they avoid attacking each other capitals just so they don't take the chance and accidentally kill a leader. To kill a Ruling Class member is equal to killing one's own child and serving it up for a life day celebration. 

"**_Fas_**! That explains why they are attacking you all right."

"Yes, this planet loves to fight to the extreme, they make the Yuuzhan Vong seem like pacifist and the more we have been able to learn the worst it gets. They have a theory that goes something like this; at the end of the last war 5 years ago the surviving nations decided to try and work out a treaty to form an one world government, a government that could stop all these war. The Empire of Goth was not willing to give up any of its power and did want to rule the world. The Empire of Goth was going along with the plan while they secretly conspired with us to wipe out every leader and their families there so they could move in and take over the planet. It didn't help that the Empire of Goth has fought against the idea of one government, by arguing the longest or the loudest of all these petty nations. It also didn't help that their Emperor was already three days late when we came in for a visit. Since then the Empire of Goth has been basically wiped out and any power that can reach us has. One thing we were able to do was unite the planet like nothing else has." Captain Yage said with a humorless laugh. "This planet has had more wars then Hutts have fleas. It seems that this island is consider to be neutral ground, the leaders were here to sign a sweeping peace treaty that would have formed the single world government. In the past 5 standard years not a shoot had been fired anywhere and this peace treaty was the capper; the finial show that the last world war, which lasted 20 years, was finial behind them."

"Well the Jedi can always come back later and worry about fixing that," Tahiri said after a short pause, "right now lets worry about getting you and your people out of there. I'm going to move back up in a higher orbit and contact Master Skywalker. I contact you when I have something; just hang on a little bit longer."

"My crew knows that you are here, Jedi Tahiri. They know that they will be rescued soon, they will hold on through anything now."

She didn't really know how to respond to that statement. She hoped that she could live up to their expectations. She tried to imagine being one of them; marooned on a primitive planet, with natives misunderstanding you and reacting with violence and fear. As she set a course for a high orbit around the moon she silently shook her head. She wasn't marooned on a primitive planet but hostiles natives, who always reacted to her with fear and violence, has always surrounded her.

As soon as she got in a place she grabbed the worm from its storage compartment and headed back to the pod. The droid was still busy back there; she wanted a better handle on what was going on before she contacted Master Skywalker.

"Ok what do you have?" She asked sitting down next to him.

THE INFORMATION FROM THE IMPERIALS HAS HELPED GREATLY IN UNDERSTANDING WHAT WE ARE COLLECTING. THERE IS A PROTOCOL DROID ON THE _WIDOWMAKER_ AND IT WAS ABLE TO TRANSLATE MOST OF THE MAJOR POWERS LANGUAGE. THOSE TRANSLATIONS WILL ALSO HELP ME IN DECRYPTING THE GOVERNMENT AND MILITARY CODES.

"Astro, did you hear the conversation with Captain Yage?"

YES.

"Was her assessment of the natives tu'q?"

WHAT DOES 'TU'Q' MEAN?

"Sorry tu'q means a direct hit."

THANK YOU. YES, IF ANYTHING SHE WAS UNDERSTATING THE PARANOID OF THIS PLANET'S INHABITANTS. USING THE TRANSLATION PROTOCOLS I HAVE BEEN ABLE TO READ MOST OF THE NON-MILITARY NEWS SERVICES. MOST OF THE POPULATION DOES BELIEVE THAT THE EMPIRE OF GOTH HAD CONTACTED THE _WIDOWMAKER_ IN A BOLD MOVE TO CONQUER THE PLANET. THE EXECUTIVE OFFICER, THREE STROM TROOPERS AND DOCTOR HEGERTY ARE THE ONLY SURVIVORS FROM THE PEACE DELEGATION; THE OTHER NINE STROM TROOPERS HAD BEEN EXECUTED FOR CRIMES AGAINST THE PEACE.

"How long do we have until the rest are killed?"

UNKNOWN, THERE WAS NO TRIAL. THEY ARE RANDOMLY REMOVED FROM THEIR CELLS AND TAKEN OUT TO A COURT YARD. ONCE THERE THEY ARE LAID DOWN ON THE GROUND WITH EACH LIMB TIED WITH A ROPE. THE ROPE IS ATTACHED TO ONE OF THE FOUR CREATURES, SOME KIND OF HUGE 4-LEGGED CREATURE. THE FOUR ANIMALS ARE THEN LEAD IN A DIFFERENT DIRECTION, THIS CAUSED THE OFFENDER TO BE SEPARATED LIMB FORM LIMB. IT SEEMS TO BE EXTREMELY PAINFUL AND CAN TAKE UP TO 6 HOURS TO COMPLETE THE EXECUTION.

The droid activated one of the screens and showed Tahiri a video of one of the executions. Tahiri watched as four animals that looked like a bantha, it was about the same size with much shorter hair and shorter tusk; slowly start walking away from each other at an angle. As the beasts get to a certain distance from each other the ropes, each one attached to the trooper's arms or legs, would get tight. She could see the pain in the man's face and hear his screams.

"It takes them six hours to die?"

YES.

"Not a nice way to go." She said as she shut off the screen. Tahiri looked at the droid and sarcastically said, "How nice of them to recorder it."

THAT WAS SHOWN LIVE TO THE PLANET WHEN WE FIRST ARRIVED IN SYSTEM. AT THE TIME I RECORDED THE VIDEO I WAS NOT AWARE OF THE IDENTIFICATION OF THE PRISONER.

"So they wanted to show the whole planet that they could kill helpless prisoner?" Tahiri was pretty disgusted at what she saw. There were ways to kill prisoners and they sure didn't do it in the best way, they did it in a very dishonorable way.

THIS METHOD OF EXECUTION IS COINCIDENT WITH THE PUNISHMENT OF A PERSON BELIEVED TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DEATH OF A RULING CLASS. THIRTY OF THE THIRTY-FIVE COUNTRIES HAVE A SIMILAR EXECUTION PROCEDURES FOR THOSE PRISONERS THOUGHT TO BE Involved IN A DEATH OF A RULING CLASS MEMBER. THE POPULATION IS ENCOURAGED TO WITTINESS ANY SUCH EXECUTIONS. IN FACT THERE IS MUCH DISCUSSION THAT THE KINGDOM OF HYTER IS PLAYING UNFAIRLY SINCE THEY WILL NOT ALLOW THE POPULATION TO PRECIPITATION IN THE PRE-EXECUTION FESTIVAL, AS PER TRADITION.

"Gee sound like a wonderful place to live, don't it." Tahiri said deadpan. The droid swung his dome to look at her in a jerky motion. He seem to be wondering if she was serious of not. "Let me guess the other five have even nastier way to get rid of people?"

CORRECT THEY ARE … 

"Please," she said holding up her left hand, "I don't really want to know. So they are bunch of bloodthirsty little buggers are they? Well we are not here to change their minds on that just to save the crew of the _Widowmaker._ Do you have any idea where they are keeping the rest of the prisoners?"

YES, THEY ARE BEING HELD AT THE MAIN COMMAND AND CONTROL BUILDING. The droid brought up the map of the Kingdom of Hyter and had a small area blinking about the center of the country in a mountain area. As she study the lay out the droid continued to brief her. THE COMPLEX IS UNDER A MOUNTAIN AND WAS COMPLETED WITH IN THE PAST 5 YEARS.

"Do you have the plans for inside the place?"

NOT YET, THE NAVIGATION OF THEIR COMPUTER SYSTEM IS HAPHAZARD AT BEST.

"Keep looking for it. We are going to need the floor plans of that complex if Master Skywalker is going to rescue them." She got up and started heading towards her bridge. "Thanks for the updates. I'm going to call Master Skywalker. Let me know if anything else comes up."

"This is Galactic Federation of Free Alliance relay outpost Alpha-Gamma 056 little girl and we don't have time for your little games." Ensign Hertz said as he leaned back into his command chair. He was the Officer of the Deck for the 'graveyard' shift on this outpost. They had been here for about two months on the edge of the Unknown Region near the planet of Galantos to act as a relay to this end of the galaxy. In the months following the war they have been working non-stop to bring the Holo-net back up to full strength. There were still holes in the net, parts that will still suddenly go dark as the left over Vong weapons still roomed the galaxy. The out post was really a corvette that had been hastily retro fitted as a communication ship. Hertz and the rest of the crew had no idea how long they would be stuck out here, although they have been told that a permanent outpost was going to be constructed soon. But when they will actually get started was still not clear. Ensign Hertz was not happy to be out here, even on temporary duty. He would rather be out in Hutt space fighting rogue Vong then playing a switchboard operator. Now for the first time since he has been out here he had a chance to release some of that anger that has been building up.

"Please understand, I am Jedi Knight Tahiri, I was sent out to the Unknown Region to locate the missing Imperial Frigate _Widowmaker_ that was lost when Zonama Sekot went into hyper-space 5 months ago. I have found the ship but they need immediate assistance, more then I have with me right now. I need you to contact Jedi Master Skywalker on Denon and set up a relay so we can talk."

"And why don't you just call him yourself?" He was kind of impressed, the kid somehow redirected the signal so it appeared way out of range of any other relay station except his. "Don't you know his number?"

"Yes I do, but I'm too far away in case you haven't noticed. I need you to act as a relay."

"Well that is what we are out here for, we do boast and relay all hyper-signals from official sources." He used the tone of voice that he uses with his sisters young children. "Now if you will let me speak to your mommy and daddy …"

"I don't have any parents and this is an official call!"

"Yes I'm sure but the Jedi are busy these days and we can't just let anyone call them. If you really do need help I would suggest you contact your parents or your local government."

"Look," she said sounding huffy, Ensign Hertz let out a smile he was spoiling her fun all right, "I gave you all the proper codes and frequencies to show you who I'm and that will allow me access to the Jedi. Now I need you to do your job, **_Kane a bar!_**"

Ensign Hertz looked over at one of the crewmembers on duty with him. The crewman was busy with his board.

"It's Yuuzhan Vong and it means: 'the dung of a meat maggot'."

"Oh really!" Ensign Hertz angrily activity the comm. again, "Yes lets talk about those codes. I'm not sure if you know this little girl but slicing into government files is a serious offense as is sending out a false alarm on official hyper-waves. You are in enough trouble as is little girl and if you disconnect now we just forget about all this. If you keep up this little joke I will personally make sure you are arrested and sent to jail. Trust me you would not like that at all, it is not any thing like your mommy and daddy taking away your favorite toy. So what will it be?"

He heard a whole string of grunting and gargle words not understanding a bit of it. He looked over at the communication specialist and saw the man with a grin on his face.

"What is she saying?"

"Oh she is good sir, that was a string of Yuuzhan Vong and Tusken Raiders, or sand people as they are known on Tatooine, insults. She is describing you and accusing you of committing several improbable and anatomically impossible acts."

"That will be enough young lady! This is an official outpost and we have more important jobs then to humor a rude spoiled brat such as you. This conversation is not over!" He punched some keys on his board, blocking the kid from reactivating a call. He then logged the incident and passed the log and a copy of the recording up the chain of command. _Maybe they will tracker her down, _he though as he finished with the report. He then sat back and saw he had four hours till the end of his shift. After he gets done with his shift he knew he just end up going to sleep and wishing something important would happen out here.

Tahiri tried for the third time to reestablish communications with the outpost, each second she was getting angrier and angrier. She knew that a Jedi was calm and patient but that son of a Hutt was really pushing it with her. She knew that her voice was child like, it was not her fault that she was only 17, but to be treated so rudely! If it was just her own life on the line it probably been less annoying but the 219 lives down on the surface counting on her to help them just made it worst. She hated the idea that some pompous windbag was going to stop her because he had more authority then brains.

"Fas!" That cut it she was blocked.

She sat back in her pilot's chair and stared out at the moon and the stars in the background trying hard to control her breathing and her anger. Anger would not help here; she needed a clear head to figure out what to do next. The _Widowmaker_ would be losing its shields soon. On the island were 50,000 armed and mad troopers with about a hundred ships out in the sea throwing high explosives at them. Add in those slow but deadly aircraft flying day and night adding to the attack. When those shields failed the men and women on the _Widowmaker_ would be overrun in matter of minutes. If they were lucky they would be just dead, if not they would die slow and extremely painful deaths. Then there was the five already held as prisoners.

She couldn't contact the Imperials, without a relay station they were just too far away. It held true with contacting anyone on Denon or Captain Solo and his wife in the Corporate Sector. She tried contacting the Chiss but her calls went unanswered. She could try to contact Bakura; she might be able to get a signal that far. But that would just add too many days to the equation. They need help today not next month. 

_Guess it is up to you Tahiri. _She thought to herself. She was not really thrilled with the idea of taking on this job all by herself. Her track record has not exactly been successful in the rescue department. But it didn't look like she had any other choice. She decided to take in the scene one last time before she head back to the pod. The droid and her had some serious planning to do and she wanted to get started as soon as possible.


	5. Chapter 5

"Hey Sergeant, look at that!" The private on guard pointing up at the star studded night sky.

The watch sergeant at the North Entrance gate swung his head to the Northwest and saw what his man saw.

"It's just a falling star, Johns." He said, dismissing it from his mind. It was a warm muggy night and he had only 3 hours left of his 8-hour shift. The sun had just set an hour before and now they had to be extra alert till their releifs showed up. They have been on high alert ever since that alien ship crashed on Hope Island. The first month his and his men would have called in a snapping twig. Who knew how the aliens would attack? After a few weeks they began to relax again. So far none of the aliens had left their ship or launched the counter attack. Many in the media said that the Empire of Goth had chosen some really bad allies in their bid for world conquest. Then when the squad of aliens were brought in to be held for execution, thing got jumpy again. Now the edge was getting dulled and the early evening watch was becoming routine.

"Wow it just exploded! Did you see that sergeant?"

The sergeant tuned out his man's annoying voice as he scanned the sky to the south wishing that it was midnight so he could head back to the barracks.

Tahiri stopped and did a slow scan around her using the special 'night enhancement' goggles that she had strapped to her head. She was about an hour away from her objective and that meant moving slower so she wouldn't trip any hidden sensors. The droid had found the blueprints to the Command and Control base and a complete layout of all sensor and anti-personal mines. So she knew that the chances of actually tripping over a new sensor was small but this close she didn't want to take any chances. The complex was buried under a mountain with one main surface entrance at the North side of the mountain. There was only one surface road leading to the complex and a small air craft field. It had 25 levels with each level having about 4047 sq meters of floor space. Each level served a different function from barracks, to supply, to vehicle storage, weapons training. It was a complete military camp but completely under a mountain. Armed with this secret information she was headed to the only weak spot in their armor. After doing a complete scan, she started heading up the side of the mountain to her first objective.

The stolen plans showed that a forward assault was out of the question. Although the 10 meter thick reinforced doors, a 'steel' and 'concert' mixture that she didn't quite understand but had read that it was designed to withstand several hours of high explosive attack, was no real problem for her concussion missiles but it would allow the natives critical second in which to either kill the prisoners or move them to a new location in the base. She didn't have the manpower or the time to do a room-by-room search of the 25 level complexes. She knew what level and what area that the crew of the _Widowmaker _was currently held on, she knew how to get on that level and how many guards both fixed and roving were in that area. She knew when they would switch the guards, when the heaviest traffic and repair times were. In short, her partner had found out everything that he could about everything that happened in that complex. Right now and until they had a reason to change everything she had a huge advantage over them, one that she didn't want to give up. 

So the only way to keep her advantage was to get in the complex and to the prisoners before they found out that she was there. She would have to go in alone, a fact that didn't sit well with the droid, by using the air vent system found on the West side of the complex. Captain Arien Yage wasn't very happy to hear her plan either. She wanted Tahiri to come to the _Widowmaker_ first pick up some support then attack the complex.

"My storm troopers could support you easily. With their help we can blast open that front gate and get our people out no matter where the aliens hid them."

_And how many more people, ours or their, would die in the process?_ Tahiri had thought to herself.

"Yes Captain, but if I sneak in we can stage the rescue with no lost of life on our side. If I stop at the _Widowmaker _first, they will know that our next stop will be at the complex. Right now I know everything about the working of the people inside, when they do maintance work, how often guards are changed, when the prisoners are feed, questioned, and other things. If they know we are coming they could change everything and they may decided to kill your people before we have time to find them. If I can get in there undetected, get to the prisoners' cells, and get them up to the main floor; my partner will fly in and blow the front doors open. We get out to the _Double Trouble_ and head down to your position before they can figure out what has happened."

"Your partner? The droid!"

"Yes ma, he can fly my ship and fire the missiles at the door."

"And what happens if you are caught or killed?"

"My partner is instructed to fly down to your location. I will be wearing sensors and comlink so he can follow my movements. Also to help me I have a special data pad, which he has modified, that I will be able to slice into one of the data hub near my entry point. That way he can monitor, advise and help draw away any troops if I am discovered."

Tahiri heard her mumble something about crazy Jedi but in the end she signed off on the mission. So Tahiri would sneak in, get the prisoners out and then head down to the _Widowmaker _and pick up the rest of the crew. Captain Yage and her storm troopers would lay down cover fire while the rest of the crew, armed with emergency rations and air supplies, would board the ship. Tahiri knew it would take 2 weeks to jump to the nearest Galactic Alliance planet, Galantos, and her ship's environmental systems could not handle the extra 219 bodies for that long. They all will be breathing can air long before they make it there.

They also had tried once more to contact the GA using the _Widowmaker _codes but the idiot at the out post must have made it a blanket blackout since they were still unable to get past the outpost. Tahiri had uttered some more Shaper curses, vowing to make Ensign Hertz the new pool manager on Hoth. So after some sleep, she would crawled into her one working escape pod and ride it down to the surface. On another planet, with advance sensors, the pod would have been identified for what it was. On this planet with only 'radar', which would pick it up, they would assume that it was a meteorite since the metal in the pod was roughly the same amount found in the meteorites in this system. She wouldn't be able to use the retro-jets or replusers until she was safely beyond the visual sight of the base, so it should be an interesting landing. 

She wore a mat-black combat suit with armor plating in the arms, legs, chest and back area; mat-black boots that came up past her ankles, a black jacket, and a black face mask. Under her jacket she had two full bandoliers of thug bugs, one of the gifts from the Shapers before she left, 4 thermo grenades on her belt; data pad, extra clips for her pistol in her pockets, tools to help her slice into information wires, a small medical kit incase any other the prisoners need help, night goggles, communication equipment, small scanners, a special amphistaff, filled with a venom that puts people to sleep not to kill them, wrapped around her waist. She had a pistol on her right hip and on her left hip a special holster that will hold her light saber and not allow it to swing. When she walked out of her cabin the droid gave her a low and impressed whistle and made some comment about her looks that she found amusing.

"Thank you, I'm sure Anakin Solo would have said the same thing."

She looked over the air vents with both her enhance vision and a small portable scanner. Each vent was about 2 meters in height and about one meter in width. According to her information there were no visual sensors in the vents, only sensors to detect atmosphere conditions. In the event of an attack or abnormal atmosphere conditions the vents could be closed with more of those 'steel and concert' panels to cut off their air supplies and prevent access by hostile forces. The wire mesh that protected the vent was fine enough to keep most animal life out and yet allow the flow of air. She held her hand up to the vent and could feel the air being drawn in by the huge fans further down the line. With one last look around the area, she pulled out her light saber and cut enough of the mesh to lift up and crawl under. The files that the droid had access showed that in one hour, just past the midnight hour, they had a team of guards do a walk by of the vents, she would still be in the complex when that happened so she couldn't leave any signs that she had been here. For once her small size was an asset instead of a problem, she could easily walk down the tube to her next objective.

After walking about 27 meters her next challenge came into view. The tube bends in a 110-degree angle to lead down to the huge fan that was pulling the air down into the complex. Not only was it a steep angle with smooth walls that offered no handholds, but also it was about a 30-meter drop into a wire mesh that protected the fan. She kneeled down at the lip of the drop and checked the time on her data pad. According to the information they stop each vent fan for one hour during the day to let them cool down. That is why she chose this vent over the others since it would be easier to get by them without damaging it when they were stopped. Since she was not 100% sure what cutting them would do or what alarms it might set off she would rather do it this way. She reached out with the Force behind her and found the 4 guards that were patrolling the vents. They were semi-alert on what was going on around them but sure they were wasting their time. She reached up and turned off the power supply to her goggles as she saw a light source getting closer to her vent. She could hear their hushed voices and saw a light source play over the vent. She felt no heighten suspicion as the guard walked by without bending down. She let out a breath that she hadn't notice holding. The second chance of being discovered went by without any complications. When she was sure they were moving on she turned back on the power to her goggles and looked down the vent at the fan. She could start to see it slow down some. Maneuvering her body around she held herself above the vent, waiting till she could hear it come to a stop. Taking a deep breath she let herself fall. Using the Force to slow her decent enough to keep her moving but not fast enough that when she landed to make any noise or get hurt. Once she hit the mesh she reached out with the Force to make sure nothing had changed. After she cut a hole in the mess she dropped the 3 meters to the bottom of the vent, where it bended back to a straight shot. She had about 45 meters to go till she reached the point that she could cut her way out of this vent.

Luke Skywalker let out a small sigh as he sat through a session of the Chief of State's Advisory Committee. Being the leading Jedi Master and on the High Council on Jedi Affaires was not enough torture to suffer through Cal Omas, his long time friend and Chief of State of the Galactic Federation of Free Alliance, had also asked him to also be on the Advisory Committee. To help him lead the GA down the right path. But sometimes he felt that he would rather face the Yuuzhan Vong again then deal with most of the non-sense that was discussed in all these committees.

_How did Leia ever develop the patience to deal with these people is beyond me. _Luke thought as a representative from Kuat was discussing the problems caused by the late Senator Viqi Shesh defection to the Yuuzhan Vong during the war. It was not the problems that Senator Shesh caused that had the new Senator from Kuat complaining but the perceived discrimination that the Senate has towards Kuat. The new senator was lodging a complaint that the Senate was deliberately slow on payment for the ships made at the Kuat shipyards, ships that were helpful at the retaking of Coruscant.

"Senator, we are paying your government according to the contract that was signed shortly after the Fall of Coruscant." Cal said sounding calm and interested in what the Senator had to say.

"That we were forced to sign with a knife at our throat!"

"Senator, please." Cal said in soothing tones, "We all were in the same position at that time. The Yuuzhan Vong …"

"The Yuuzhan Vong was not the knife I was referring to but at the disinformation that was spread about my late friend Viqi Shesh by the Jedi and other forces that wish to topple the Kuat government."

"Sir, I'm not a fan of the Jedi as you know," Senator Fyor Rodan said. Luke knew that was a huge understatement. Senator Rodan has never been what Luke would call a friend of the Jedi; he has tried to obstruct the Jedi at every turn. For a long time Luke never understood why Senator Rodan was so against what he and other were trying to accomplished until he talked to the man shortly after arriving at Mon Calamari. He was mostly worried about the real threat of a government-supported cult that refused to participate or follow the said government laws. That Luke's Jedi were nothing more then half trained vigilantism causing more trouble then helping. Luke had to admit that Rodan made a large amount of sense and he made many changes due to Rodan's concerns. "But we have independently verified the facts that Mister Skywalker has presented to this body."

Before the new Senator could respond, Corran Horn rushed into the chamber and walked quickly up to Luke's position at the table.

"Excuse me please sirs, but I need to speak with Master Skywalker."

"What's wrong?" Luke asked quickly after killing the power to his microphone. 

"We have a big problem Luke, it is Tahiri."

"What! What happened to her?" Luke looked over at Cal while standing up, "Excuse me Chief of State, but I must go and supervise a problem that involves one of my best Jedi."

"Are we about to be pulled into another war Mr. Skywalker?" Rodan asked sarcastically, talking over the low hushed voices in the chamber. 

"No, sir." Corran answered the senator, "But Jedi Knight Tahiri Veila had found the Imperial Frigate _Widowmaker_ and is in need of immediate assistance."

"The _Widowmaker_!" Cal asked looking at Corran. Corran nodded his head but didn't look all that happy. Luke wonders why Corran was not happy about this news. "This wonderful news, I believe we should take a recess so that I can be briefed on this news along with Master Skywalker."

"May I join you sir?" Rodan asked

"Of course you may," Cal answered after checking with Luke and Corran, "We will reconvene after the afternoon meal period.

"Two days ago Tahiri attempted to contact us but was blocked by the relay outpost." Corran told the three men on the way to Chief of State's office. "It seems the officer on duty had thought Tahiri was just a kid playing around with the hyper-comm. net. He forwards a report to Military Intelligent, hoping that they could track down her. One of the Intel people couldn't figure out how she was able to bounce the signal way out in the Unknown Space so they contacted me to make sure it wasn't a practical joke."

"Are you sure it was her?" Luke asked as the walked in Cal's private office.

"The codes all check out, plus when I contacted the Outpost a hour ago they told me that they recorded a new call from the same location but this time the codes identified as the Imperials." Corran activated the communication consul tying it in with the Holo-net. "She didn't broadcast very long the second time. They are trying to contact her now."

"Have we contacted the Imperials yet?" Rodan asked as Corran raised the outpost.

"Not yet Senator Rodan, we don't have the full story from her yet. All we know that they are still alive but in some kind of danger."

"This is Outpost Alpha-Gamma 056, how can we assist you?" A female voice said over the speaker.

"This is Jedi Master Horn, I am with Chief of State Omas, Senator Rodan and Master Skywalker and we wish to talk with your Captain please."

"Yes sir! One moment please!" The voice sounding nervous and true to her word within seconds a new voice replaced the young woman.

"This is Captain Delion."

"Captain Delion, this is Master Skywalker. I understand you have some information about one of my Jedi?"

"Unfortunately not much right now sir, we have been trying to reestablish contact with the _Double Trouble_ since Master Horn asked us to."

"Captain Delion, this is Chief of State Omas; what can you tell us?"

"When Jedi Veila contacted us two days ago she reported that she found the _Widowmaker _on a uncharted star system in the Unknown Region. The _Widowmaker_ had crashed landed on a primitive planet and was under attack by the natives of that world. They only have 219 surviving members left and enough power in their batteries for one week of shields. She was requesting that we establish contact with Master Skywalker so he could arrange a rescue effort."

"Captain, we have reestablished contact with the _Double Trouble_ channel Y-098."

"Tie it in with my current channel." 

After a few seconds all four men heard the sounds of a R2 unit. Luke knew it was the R2-L616 he had assigned to Tahiri. Luke tied in a program that would allow him and the others to see what it was saying.

"R2-L616, this is Master Skywalker; is Tahiri awake?"

YES.

"Could you have her come and talk to us?"

IMPOSSIBLE, TAHIRI IS CURRENTLY ON THE PLANET SURFACE.

"What?" Corran asked, "What is she doing down there?"

TAHIRI IS ATTEMPTING TO RESCUE 5 SURVIVING MEMBERS OF A NEGOTIATION TEAM THAT WAS CAPTURED BY THE KINGDOM OF HYTER.

"She is doing what?" Corran exploded.

"Maybe the droid had better give us a complete briefing on what is going on." Senator Rodan said before Corran could ask any more questions.

"I agree, droid could you tell us what you know about the situation there?" Cal asked.

All three men and the outpost listen as R2-L616 gave a detail report on Tahiri's actions since arriving at the planet, the conditions of the _Widowmaker_ and the planets population. And how she came up with the rescue plan after being cut off from outside help. 

"What is her plan after she gets the prisoners free?" Luke asked after the droid finished the report.

WE WILL TRAVEL TO THE _WIDOWMAKER_ POSITION AND LOAD THE REST OF THE CREW SINCE THEIR SHIELDS WILL NOT HAVE ENOUGH POWER TO PROTECT THEM WITHIN THE NEXT TWO DAYS. THE CREW HAS BEEN BRIEFED TO BRING ONLY EMERGENCY OXYGEN AND FOOD SUPPLIES SINCE THE _DOUBLE TROUBLE_ DOES NOT HAVE ENOUGH TO SUSTAIN EVERYONE FOR THE TWO WEEKS IT WILL TAKE TO REACH Galantos.

"Why didn't she go and get the crew first before she went after the prisoner? The crew of the _Widowmaker_ could have helped in any rescue." Cal asked out loud.

WE HAVE COMPLETE ACCESS TO FLOOR PLANS AND STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES FOR THE COMPLEX. SHE WAS NOT CONFIDENT THAT THEY COULD REACH THE PRISONER ALIVE IF THEY KNEW SHE WAS ON THE WAY.

"Which is what would happened if she went after the _Widowmaker_ first. The next logical stop would have been the prisoners." Corran said grudgingly.

"Did she attempt to contact the natives of the planet and open up any discussions?" Luke asked, already knowing what the answer would be.

NO.

"Why not?" Rodan asked, his tone not accusatory but curious.

TAHIRI FELT THAT SINCE SHE WAS CUT OFF FROM OUTSIDE HELP TO CONTACT THE NATIVES MAY NOT BE IN HER BEST INTEREST SINCE THEY HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE OF US IN ORBIT AROUND THEIR PLANET.

Senator Rodan nodded his head thoughtfully as he walked over to one of the chairs in the office. Luke looked at Corran and Cal and saw men also nod their heads, it was not the best solution but probably the best considering the situation she found herself in.

"How long has she been on the surface?" Luke asked.

FOUR HOURS 18 MINUTES, SHE HAS A TRACKING SENSOR ON HER BODY SO I'M ABLE TO MONITOR HER PROGRESS. SHE IS CURRENTLY IN THE VENTILATION SYSTEM MAKING HER WAY TO A POINT WHERE SHE CAN ENTER THE COMPLEX WITHOUT BEING DETECTED.

"Very well," Cal said after sitting down at his desk, "_Double Trouble_ you are to maintain contact to the outpost and brief Jedi Veila when she gets back. If she runs into any trouble you are to contact us at once, understand?"

YES.

"Captain Delion, you and your team is going to give this your top priority. If you lose contact or receive any more information you are to contact me at once, understood."

"Yes Chief of State."

"I'm going to try to find a ship or two to get out there, at least to the outposts position to assist her when she get that far. I'll be in touch." Cal closed down the channel. He spun his chair around to look outside. "Master Horn, would you please go to the Supreme Commander's office and see what they can give us for this operation. A ship, at least as big as frigate hopefully bigger but a frigate would do, that can be routed to the outpost a.s.a.p. If we can get it there early enough we will coordinate with Veila to meet them along some point earlier."

"Yes sir."

"Sir, I would like Master Horn and his son Valin to meet Tahiri and the _Double Trouble_ when they arrive."

"Very well, I'm sure she will be happy to see a friendly face. But I don't want a ship routed here then out there, if they have to they can meet the ship at the outpost."

"Yes sir, I'll get started right away."

After Corran left, Luke looked over at Senator Rodan who was still looking thoughtful.

"Will we tell the Imperial Remnant that she found their missing ship?" Luke asked.

"Yes," Cal said turning back to look at Luke and Senator Rodan, "I just hope the Grand Admiral will be reasonable about all this. He is a pretty level headed solider except when his troops have been treated like they have been there. He may want to go bomb them in to the Stone Age for what they did to some of those prisoners."

"Sounds like they already at the stone age there," Rodan said with a snort, "Just my luck although, I finally have a Jedi who is perfectly willing to work with in the law. And she gets her support cut out from under her." He got up from his chair and started walking towards the door. "I'll go see if I can get that whinny Kuat Senator to postpone for a few days, at least until this problem is more secured."

Luke tried to keep his surprise from his face as Senator Rodan walked out of the office; the chuckle from Cal told him he was not completely successful.

"Relax Luke, Fyor is a good man underneath that tough hide. His priories are just different then your that is all."

"I know, I'm still trying to get use to this politician life that you and Leia take for granted." Luke said with a small smile, "Still I thought he would be breathing fire over this problem."

"He would be if the situation had been different. But Tahiri Veila had tried to work within the law but due to conditions outside her control was forced into doing what she is doing. Had she been in contact with us then attempted this rescue, well then he would be. But right now he know the main question is more important then spreading blame."

"And that question would be?" Luke asked after a small pause.

"Can she pull this off without getting herself and the rest of the crew killed?"

Luke nodded, that was the question that has been on his mind since he asked her to undertake this mission. Was Tahiri mature enough to handle this mission? Was she in control of her different heritages to act, as a Jedi should and not as a Yuuzhan Vong? Until her mission with Corran to Coruscant and then to Zonama Sekot he would have assigned another Jedi to help her. Now he was surer that she could handle this on her own. Or at least he did until he found out that she was in a middle of a war zone. Of all the younger Jedi, Tahiri has been a special person to him. A young orphan, who was raised by the Sand People of Tatooine, who had over come some serious hurdles to be what she is today. Her shaping, the death of Luke's nephew Anakin Solo, the merging of her two personalities, all crises that she has faced and come thru even stronger then before. Tahiri, whom he worried about her safety as much as he worried about Jaina or Jacen or his own son Ben safety; she is a member of his family. _Could she pull this off?_ Yes that was the question. Luke took a deep breath and faced Cal squarely.

"I hope so Cal."


	6. Chapter 6

Tahiri paused at her entry point. The metal in the vents were 38.1 centimeters thick, way too thick for most portable cutting tools on this planet or most portable tools found in her world. She wasn't sure how long it would take for her light saber to cut through but she was sure she could do it in less time then the natives here thought she could. Tahiri started by drilling a very small hole first, just big enough to get a mini-cam through. She rotated the mini-cam to make sure that the passage way was clear. According to the information the droid gathered this maintains corridor should be clear at this time of the night but she wanted to make sure. This was the mostly like time that she would be discovered. If she could get the hole cut fast enough, before the cams in the corridor caught her image, she could drop down and get to the relay box and get the droid into their system.

That was tur phahg of this whole operation. The people who designed and built this complex had no landlines leading into the base; the base's computer net was a complete closed looped. It was an effective security measure that actually worked against her. All communications were transmitted by radio waves; radio waves that were shorter in duration, more random in timing and just plain riskier for the droid to tap into. The only way the droid could assist her was for her to hook the modified data pad directly into the information node on this level, the information node that was directly underneath the very cam that watched this stretch of corridor. So she had to spend several minutes watching the cam swing up and down the corridor, timing how long it was facing away from her and how long it took to come back. She also checked to see the timing on the other 2 cams further away.

After about 15 minutes she saw her first snag of the operation, all three cams were facing away from her location for a total of 20 seconds. That meant that she would have to work slowly so as not to reveal her position. She would have cut for 17 seconds and pause for 40 seconds plus stay alert enough to catch any change in the aliens that may signal that they were on to her. She sat back against the vent and took some calming breaths.

_It's ok so far they don't even know you are on planet let alone in this vent,_ she said to herself, _it will just take a little longer then you planned but not so long as to be a worry yet. Take your time and do it right, there is no reason to hurry._

On one level her Jedi instincts were agreeing, this was not really much of delay and she would lose more by rushing then by taking her time. But her Yuuzhan Vong side was warning her that they were on a clock here and any delay was too long. She clamped down hard on her Yuuzhan Vong side, she still had 5 hours till the next shift change, and the prisoners would still be asleep in their cells until at least dawn. She had time; she had to take it slow. So, after making sure she had the timing down right, she set the alarm on her data pad and begun cutting her way free.

"Lord Major I have that flash again!"

Lord Major Smit, the 6th cousin to the royal family, looked up from his magazine. The corporal at the security monitors has been bugging him for the past 45 minutes about some strange blue flash down on level 17. Lord Major Smit was already annoyed with the way the world was turning out. When he was assigned to the Central Command last year he saw it as a fast track to promotion in the ever-shrinking military force. All this talk of peace and no more wars was having a disasters effect on the military, no longer was the King willing to spend money on something that would soon be needed as much as a root canal. Then the impossible happened, just as the finial nail was being hammered in to the military coffin, aliens invaded them. Oh sure it was a pretty pathetic invasion as invasions go. There was only one ship, an extremely big ship but still it was only one ship that crashed on Hope Island. The aliens hadn't even left their ship and it appears to be so badly damaged that it can't even fly. Well, what would one expect from any creatures that would stoop so low as to deal with the Empire of Goth? But they did kill the King's parents and most of his brothers and sisters and their spouses, as well as most of all the planets Ruling Class. That was an act of debauchery, a crime so low it was not even thinkable to most if not all the people of this planet. It was a crime that demanded a square inch of alien hide and blood in payment. He screamed and demanded a transfer to Hope Island, to lead their glorious troops in a vengeful attack against the barbarians who dare to invade his planet. But to no avail, his cousin the Lord General Smit, refused to let him be transferred.

_"You're duty is here! We must be on guard in case more aliens invaded!"_ his loud mouth, smelly, hopelessly antique, fat hog of a cousin told him the last time he asked. But it has been 5 months and still only one ship. Even after they transferred the prisoners to the Central Command he had some small hope that they would launch an attack to retrieve their comrades. But no such luck! They may look like real men, a fact that caused much discussion when they found that out, but they had no real fighting spirit. He couldn't imagine these aliens being able to conquer a playground let alone anything else. _And they call themselves Imperials_, he often thought with amusement.

"Corporal, I'm getting tired of this nonsense!" The major said getting up from his desk at the back of the room and walking over to the security control station.

"Lord Major, please forgive me but I do see blue flashes on level 17 sector G, it is near the air vents."

"Yes, and all sensors in the vents came up with nothing as did the walking patrols outside, so it must be a electrical problem."

"Yes Lord Major, but they are too regular and they only appear when all three cameras are out of line of sight." the young man insisted.

"Corporal," Lord Major Smit said standing next to the young man staring down on him with the entire Royal demeanor that he possessed. "Our outside patrols and guards have reported nothing out of the ordinary for the past night, correct?"

"Yes Lord Major but …"

"Our air forces have reported no other air planes, ships or any unidentified flying objects have been seen in or near our airspace, correct?"

"Yes Lord Major but …"

"Our army has no reports of any hostile forces crossing our great land, correct?"

"Yes Lord Major but …"

"In fact Corporal," he said leaning down and putting his face inches from the other man face, "except for a shooting star seen earlier nothing unusual has been seen around here for the past week."

"Yes Lord Major but …"

"And yet you keep insisting that something out of the ordinary is important enough to continually bother me? What do you think it is a band of aliens breaking into this complex? Do you think those blue flashes are some kind of teleportation device like you seen on TV shows?"

"No Lord Major, I had thought …"

"Don't think Corporal you have neither the breeding nor the IQ to undertake such a monumental task." He heard a ripple of amusement work its way around the vast control room. The corporal at least had the brains to be embarrassed, judging from the blush growing on his face.

"Lord Major, regulations state that I'm required to report any and all abnormalities that I observe during the course of my tour duty to my superior officer."

Smit heard a rustling of the more experience crew members as they busy themselves with anything, to avoid any appearance of them paying attention to the conversation. Smit hated being corrected, especially in public, especially by one with such inferior rank and breeding and they all knew it. Especially when he knew, and they knew, that the corporal was correct. He stood there staring down at the boy as if his stare could make the boy disappear into the floor.

"Technician!" He growled out. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the sergeant at the engineering station snap to attention. "Send one of your people to Level 17 sector G and have him check the electronic control panel, substations, buses, and other areas for these 'blue flashes'. When he finds the source assign a repair crew to fix the problem."

"At once Lord Major!"

"And you, corporal, shall take a flashlight and your side arm and escort the technician to Level 17 sector G and stand guard. When the problem is solved you will stand guard as the repair team is fixing the problem. Then to be on the safe side you will stand guard until the afternoon shift begins. In fact you will stand guard there, double shift, for the next two months! Do you understand me!"

"Yes Lord Major!"

"Get moving!" Smit turned away and headed back to his desk thinking that should solve his problem nicely.

Tahiri sat back, she was _finally_ finished. It took what felt like forever for her to cut the hole in the kane a bar vent. It was hot in that vent, she had sweet pouring down her back and face, and she had to remove her jacket and facemask to try to keep cool. The Nang Huls on her bandoliers were feeling her agitation and it was driving her nuts having them vibrate against her chest. A couple times she nearly gave in to her Yuuzhan Vong impulses and just cutting her way through as fast as she could. _At least I got some good training in controlling my impulses, _she thought as she took a short break, feeling the cool air going by now that the fan was going again. Even as long as it took to cut the hole, trying to move the Grakh plug was a new challenge. She knew that size matter not; Master Skywalker pounded that into her head over and over again. But she had no idea that this plug would be so hard to move, she nearly dropped it twice. She finally settled on moving it by pushing it, using her hands and body, once she had enough of it on the vent floor.

But now she was done with the second objective and was nearly done with the whole operation. Now she just had to get the data pad into the information hub so that the droid could help her, and then go up 7 levels to the prisoner cells. From there it be a simple trip up the remaining floors and freedom. She got up and put her facemask and jacket back up, talking softly to the Nang Huls to calm them down, and pulled out a powered multi tool, comm. link and the special data pad.

"One, Two; stand by," she said softly, the droid didn't answer her back but she knew he was up there ready to go. She looked down at the counter, waiting for the all three cams to be out of sight. When the time came around, she jumped down the 4 meters to the floor and ran across the room, she slid on her stomach for the last few meters. She used her multi tool to unscrew the nuts holding the cover on. The droid had a map of the connections she need to make and downloaded the picture into the pad, so she had a reference to work from. Her data pad pinged and she tried to make her self smaller, she still hadn't got the pad attached. She could feel the cam getting closer as she worked furiously to finish.

I AM IN. The droid said, thanks to the tizowyrm she didn't need to have the comm. link translate it. She said a quiet prayer to the gods that on one level she knew didn't exist but on a deeper level couldn't deny. I HAVE ACCESS THE ARCHIVES, I FOUND ENOUGH FOOTAGE TO LOOP FOR THIS CORRIDOR. I HAVE FULL ACCESS NOW.

She let out a long held breath.

"Gods, this is more nerve racking then I though."

YOU ARE 32 MINUTES BEHIND SCHEDULE DID YOU HAVE ANY TROUBLE?

"The vent was harder to cut and move then I thought it would be. Plus the cams were only out of sight for 20 seconds every minute. Have there been any alerts?"

NEGATIVE YOU ARE STILL UNDETECTED.

"Good," she said as she replaced the cover leaving the data pad hooked into the wiring. "Ok time to move on to phase three."

AFFIRMATIVE STAIR WELL IN SECTOR C IS UNOCCUPIED AND SHOULD BE FOR NEXT 2.45 HOURS. I HAVE PROVIDED YOU ACCESS UP TO LEVEL 10.

"Astro lets go."

A few minutes later she was peeking around the corner on Level 10 Sector J, the high security prison section. As the droid had said there was only two guards on duty right now and they both looked to be bored. One thing that has worked in her favor on this whole trip so far that the natives seemed to be in a relaxed state. Having months of inaction was taking their tool on the troops alertness. She leaned back and pulled the amphistaff from around her waist; she gave it a small kiss on top of its head and said a small pray as she waited for the droid to loop the video. The both knew that of all the post on this base, this one and the control room would be watched closely. Having two guards fall asleep on duty would raise a few alarms.

GO.

She released the amphistaff so it would crawl along the ground. She heard them talking but couldn't understand what they were saying. She heard one of the guards yelp out in surprise and then the other one. Only after hearing the sound of two guards falling did she look around the corner. One guard was sprawl out under the desk while the other was slumped in his chair. She scooped up the amphistaff as she ran over to the door.

"Some kind of lock vertical, 5 studs." she said in to the comm. link.

STAND BY. KEYS ARE 1 THRU 5, 1 ON TOP 5 ON BOTTOM, CODE IS 425.

"Ready?"

GO.

She punched the code and was rewarded with a click, which meant the door was unlocked. When she opens the door she saw two rows of primitive looking cells. They were open aired with just bars. Each cell appeared to be 2.4 meters long by 1.82 meters wide. Each held two bunks and some very primitive and open refresher station. She shook her head in disgust, wondering how anyone could use that with everyone watching.

"Commander?" she asked quietly walking toward the cells, "Commander?"

"Don't you barbarians have any sense of decency it is in the middle of the night?" A clip and precise Imperial accent came back to her from the dark.

"Hold on Commander I've have you out in a second, just cover your eyes."

"What? Who are …"

Tahiri flip on her light saber, the icy blue blade making short work out of the metal lock.

"Come on sir, I need your help waking the others."

"A Jedi?" He said still sitting down, his mouth open. In the dim light of her saber she could see his once proud uniform was dirty, tattered, ripped in many places and many new and old bruises covering the parts of his body that she could see.

"Yep, I'm here to give you the standard Jedi rescue." She gave him a confident smile.

"You are a Jedi?" He said in a tone that suggested to her that he would believe Ewoks could take basic and fly star ships before he believed her.

She balled her fist and planted them on her hips, giving him a stern look.

"Yes, I'm a Jedi Knight. You know not all of us are 2 meters tall with huge gross muscles and _male_! I need your help waking up the others so we can get out of here but if you want to stick around and wait for some _male_ to come help you be my guest."

"No, it is …", he started to say getting up and with as much dignity as he could muster, straighten his uniform. "My apologies Jedi, you are right we need to get out of here first. After we are free we can discuss how far the Empire has fallen to leave such delicate work as this mission to Jedi, instead of more profession storm troopers."

Tahiri just rolled her eyes and moved down the hallway to the next cell. _So this is what Masters Horn, Durron and Skywalkers are always talking about when they talk about the typical Imperial attitude. How annoying!_

"So what if you're right? He is the Lord Major and that makes him right all the time." The tech said to his friend as they got off elevator at Level 17. "All you got for your trouble is 2 months of extra work."

"He is a moron, if he wasn't the King's cousin he would be able to get a job scrubbing toilets with his tongue at this bases."

"Yea but he is the King's cousin. Although the word is he is not on the favorite list. He was sent here when peace was breaking out to keep him out of the King's hair. Why he is still here is beyond me. Most officer gets off the midnight shift fairly quickly and after a year he is still there."

"Would you want him around you all day if you were the Lord General?" He said with a snort.

Both men laughed as they rounded the corner and entered Sector G. The tech looked around, he couldn't smell anything that suggested electrical shorts. The Corporal walked around the area under the huge vents that supplied the base with normal air.

"Hey Sergeant, we are in Sector G." the tech said into his walkie-talkie.

"Roger, see anything yet?"

"Negative and I don't smell anything that suggests burnt wiring."

"Wen, I thought you said you were there?"

"Roger, we're in Sector G. I'm standing right in front of the camera."

"Security says the corridor is clear."

"What? I'm standing right in front of it … wait," he looked closely and noticed that the camera wasn't moving. "Private Wen to Control is the camera moving where you are?"

"Affirmative Private Win all shows normal up here." the security sergeant said breaking in to the conversation.

Wen went over to the information hub and began to remove the cover. He heard his friend come up behind him.

"Hey Win, do you know anything about a hole cut into the air vents?"

He stopped short as Wen pulled the cover off and they both saw some obvious alien device hard wired into the information hub.

"Red Alert, intruder alert!" Lord Major Smit screamed into the suddenly quiet control room. It finally happened the alien scum were attacking them. How they did it, or how long they been here no long matter; the only thing that mattered was killing them. Slowly if possible but he really didn't care it was a chance to show his cousin that he was a warrior. "Security I want extra men assigned to the prisoner cells. That will be their ultimate objective! Engineering I want that device removed now and brought to me!"

He barely heard the twin acknowledgments as he head to the special radio set, the King need to be informed immediately.

Commander Ritk was impressed; the very young Jedi had seemed to have though out this rescue very well. She had briefed him that her droid was in their security and control computers redirecting all the security cams, unlocking access doors and monitoring for the roving patrols. She even had a small but very useful medical kit which they all had need of, especially poor Dr. Hegerty. The good doctor was an ederly woman and a civilian, she held up better then he dare hoped but even she had her limits. She would need lots of care once they got back to the Empire. Commander Ritk vowed the cost of such care and the cost of the pain and suffering of his troopers would be extracted from these pathetic aliens. Two of the troopers would have to help her to the Jedi's ship. The other trooper, armed with four thermo grenades, would bring up the rear while he, with her pistol, and the Jedi lead the party up to the top floor.

"Ok droid, I need you to head down here now." She nodded her head when he replied.

"Your droid is flying that ship!" Ritk asked shocked.

"Yes," she looked at him irritably, "I couldn't very well park it out front and ask them nicely to come in and get you."

"Really, I though that what you Jedi did, talk your opponents into giving up."

"Gee, I don't know doesn't see to be as much fun as doing it this way, now does it? Besides I think I'm good at talking but I am not that good. If you want to negotiate your release make sure next time you request Mrs. Organa-Solo."

"I will make a note of that for the next time." He said amused with this little Jedi, "but right now I wondering how we will get to your ship."

"He is going to blow the main door open with to concussion missiles. It is pretty tough by these natives' standards but the missiles won't have any trouble. Then we run as fast as possible through the open door way, you and I lying down cover fire at whatever security forces still alive that will be trying to kill us by throwing slugs at us. Then we head down to the _Widowmaker,_ pick up the rest crew, fighting past 50,000 screaming and blood thirsty natives who really keen on killing us all as slowly as possible. Simple." She said with a grin as she brought the comm. link up to her face. Ritk found her answer very amusing, she was nothing not like Master Skywalker or the other Jedi he met earlier. This one at least had a sense of humor. "Ready?" He heard one beep and she nodded her head again. "Lets move out."

They were at Level 5 when the droid beeped at her.

"Go?" she listen for a few minutes then stared at the comm. link like it was a Hutt. "What? How did you lose connection?"

Then they could hear the sound of sirens going off and a red flashing light filled the stairway. Ritk looked at the young woman, she had her eyes closed and uttered one word.

**_"Khapet!"_**


	7. Chapter 7

"Lord Major! What is going on in here?" Lord General said pushing his way into the control room. For once Smit was not sorry to his cousin.

"Lord General sir, we have evidence that aliens have invaded the base." Smit said holding up the alien device his men just gave him.

"What? That is not possible! How could they gain access into this base without us knowing about it?" He stared at the device as if it was a rattlesnake ready to strike him.

"It appears sir, they came in through one of the air vent. They were able to cut a hole in the vent and hook some kind of device to the information hub on Level 17. This device allowed then direct access to our computer system." Lord Major Smit had the pleasure of watching his fat cousin struggle with that notion.

"Lord Major, security team 909 reports cells are empty, both guard are out cold but alive."

"Lord Major team 675 is reporting a fire fight on Level 3 Sector C stairway."

"Send all available troopers to level 1 Sector A! Tell them to stand by to either keep the escaping aliens at bay or repel any additional invading forces that will move in to support them!" The Lord General bellowed out.

"Sir, request permission to join the troops." Lord Major said hopefully, knowing that his cousin couldn't deny the request. A task this important demanded a Lord to be at the front.

"Go!" The Lord General said to his back, Lord Major was already heading to the elevator. "And remind the troops of the King's wrath that will fall on them if these aliens get lose!"

"Drop a grenade!" Command Ritk yelled over the sound of ricocheting slugs. They were on Level One with troopers trying to come up from the 3rd and 2nd floors, too many for him to hold off. The young Jedi was busy cutting into the lock.

"Fire in the hole!"

Both of the troopers used their bodies to protect the good doctor as the thermo grenade went off three floors below them. He could hear the screams of the troops that had been caught in the explosion and the sound of stairs collapsing. After the shock wave passed the trooper leaned down to look at the damage.

"Clear, at least 4 levels damaged. They won't be using this stairway for a long time to come."

"Door is open." The Jedi said looking down at the ruined troops with a look of regret on her face. "The _Double Trouble _will be here soon. We need to get closer to the entrance."

As the Jedi and Ritk went through the door first he studied her carefully. She didn't seem happy with the grenade but willing to live with it. He had expected a long lecture about the need to preserve live as much as possible. He would have agreed with that if he didn't have aliens killing and torture his men. Level One was the main entrance to the base, in fact the only entrance, and unlike the rest of the base it was a huge open area. This is where they kept the various land vehicles. They could hear the sounds of troopers rushing about the Level One. To better hide their movements, they stay low and tried to stay behind some kind of large track vehicle. Ritk studied the aliens as they rushed around the main floor, they didn't seem to be engaged in a search but in stead they seem to be preparing containment.

"Looks like they are going to set up for us to leave, instead of hunting us down." Ritk whispered as he study the barrier the aliens had set up in front of the door.

"Yes, sir," the trooper in the back agreed. "I think they know that it be a waste of time to hunt us down, especially after they look at that stairway. They have troops blocking our way out and the rest are herding us to them. They will try to pin us between both groups."

"Fas! I was hoping to limit the number of natives I had to kill." The Jedi whispered back.

"You have a problem with killing?"

"If I could got you all out of here without killing a single person, I would have. But it seems that choice is not an option anymore. I'll do it but doesn't mean I like to do it."

Ritk nodded his head; he was willing to accept her answer and more importantly he now knew he wouldn't have to fight her over the way they escape.

"Sir, Ma'am, 4 squads coming up from behind us." The last trooper was whispering from his position at the rear of the group. "More behind them."

"Droid you in position?" The droid beeped once. "Blow it in 10 seconds." She put the comm. link away and started to remove her jacket. "When the door goes make a run for it."

"What are you doing?" Ritk saw what look like bugs crisscrossing her chest; they were beating their wings in some kind of anticipation. She handed him her jacket and looked directly at him. He took a step back without realizing it. Something about her eyes!

"You run and I delay."

Ritk heard the troopers behind them getting closer; he didn't even try to argue with her. She had a grip on her light saber, tensed and ready to go. He and the troopers braced themselves for the big bang to come.

"Smit, we have lost contact with the teams in the stairways. We are assuming they were wiped out." The Lord General said over his walkie-talkie.

"Yes sir, my men and I are almost in position. The main door is well protected."

The next thing he knew he was laying flat on his back, his ears roaring like they did when he was too close to artillery. He opened his eyes and saw smoke and dust in the air. Some of his men begin shooting towards the door. Many of them were like him, lying on the ground in a stun state. There was a second explosion above his head. He could hear the sound of the roof collapsing and felt a sharp pain from below his waist. He tried to roll to his side to get up but found his legs to be trapped under rocks. He propped himself up and looked towards the main entrance. He stared in shock to see the mighty door, that was design to withstand days of attacks, was a jagged hole. He could see none of the troops station near the door moving or firing at the group of prisoners running towards some kind of ship landing outside. He tried to yell at his men, to rally them in stopping the aliens, but he couldn't muster the energy to do so. Then a small blond hair _girl_ jumped down from one of the tanks. She stood with her back to the door and swung some kind of blue beam thing around. From her chest many small black shapes flew away on their own power. She was retreating quickly and steady to the ruin door. Just as she reached the door she spun around and fell to the ground, he had a small hope now of at least recapturing one alien. He watched as his men moved forward, they were hesitant in their movements since there was no real cover between them and the girl but the girl was not moving very well herself. Two of the males ran back in the complex and firing some kind of beam weapons at the troops. Again he heard his men scream out in pain, he watched them drop like flies against this small group. The older male keep firing as the younger male picked up the girl and carried her back outside. After they all disappeared he heard a loud whine coming from outside, or was it the sound of his heart breaking. He was in charge of recovering the aliens, of capturing the invaders and he failed. His cousin, the King, would not be pleased with him. He pulled his service weapon out of the holster, no the King would be very displeased. Better do this way then to face his cousin again.

Tahiri's side and shoulder felt like they were dunked in molten metal. The trooper had laid her down on the deck of the _Double Trouble_ near the hatch.

"Do you have anymore first aid kits?" He asked as he leaned out to cover the commander's retreat.

"In a storage bin under the couch in the lounge." She said trying to stand up; she needed to get to the bridge. "You can put Dr. Hegerty in the port cabin."

"Stay put girl. You're bleeding from the right shoulder, hip and side." He said pushing her down. As soon as the commander closed the hatch the trooper headed to the lounge.

"I have to get to the bridge, we need to head down to the _Widowmaker_."

"Lets us stop the bleeding first, Jedi. Your droid can get us moving in the right direction without you there." As soon as the trooper came back with the kit, he squeezed her left shoulder. "I go let the Captain know we are on the way down."

"I'll be there in a few minutes." She called as he ran towards the bridge. She watched the trooper spread some bacta on her shoulder and other wounds.

"You have three slugs wounds. You going to need some time in the bacta tank to get that shoulder fix when we get back."

"You would think I could complete one mission without getting hurt in some way." She said grimacing against the pain as he applied bandages to her shoulder. One of the other troopers came back from the port cabin. "How is Dr. Hegerty doing?"

"She is bad shape, there is not much we can do until we get down to the _Widowmaker_, hopefully our medic can do more for her."

Tahiri nodded her head as she felt the _Double Trouble_ left off and head towards the _Widowmaker_.

"Help me get to the bridge."

"You should really go to your cabin and rest." The trooper that provided first aid to her said as she struggled to stand.

"Are you a pilot?" She asked already knowing the answer, when neither one of them answered she nodded her head. "That's what I thought, I'll go in to a healing trance once we get into hyperspace. Now help me up."

Reluctantly the two troopers help her stand, she was wobbly as she stood. She felt lightheaded but somewhat clear headed enough to make her way to the bridge. In the lounge she walked over to the back up engineering control panel and punched a couple buttons. A hatch above their heads swung down with a ladder dropping to the deck.

"The quad guns are up there, I won't be able to fly and fight at the same time in my condition. Can either one of you operate them?"

"Please ma'am, don't be insulting." The second trooper said with a grin, "We are Imperial Storm Troopers, if it shoots we can operate it."

"I forgot, then please be my guest." She said with answering grin, "Keep the bad guys away and provide ground support when needed."

"My pleasure ma'am." He said snapping off a salute and climbing up the ladder. The other trooper helps her in to her small bridge. The droid swung his dome around and looked at her as she entered. The commander got up from her chair when he saw her.

TAHIRI YOU HAVE BEEN INJURED!

"It's ok, I'll be fine."

"I contacted Captain Yage, she is preparing to evacuate the _Widowmaker_. Also your Master Skywalker is on line TI-078."

"Thanks," she said sitting down and closing her eyes fighting the vertigo caused by the loss of blood.

TAHIRI YOU NEED IMMEDIATE MEDICAL CARE! YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE IS LOW.

"I'll go into a healing trance when we go into hyperspace, don't worry." She said with a small smile as the commander helped her put on a headset.

TAHIRI, I AM CAPABLE TO OPERATE THE SHIP. YOU NEED TO BE REPAIRED.

"I will be fine droid, don't worry." _He is getting as over protective as Anakin_, she thought with amusement.

"Tahiri this is Luke, the commander just briefed us."

TAHIRI YOU ARE NOT 'OK' I HAVE SCAND THREE FOREIGN METAL OBJECTS IN YOUR BODY. ONE IN YOUR RIGHT SHOULDER, RIGHT MIDSECTION AND IN YOUR RIGHT HIP.

"Tahiri, have you been hurt?"

"Yes Master Skywalker but she refuses to rest until we get to the others." The trooper from behind her said.

"Your droid is right, you need to go and heal."

"Master Skywalker, we have hundreds of aliens combat ships and troops around us, she can't fly in here if she is that injured." Captain Yage said from the _Widowmaker_.

Tahiri closed her eyes, everyone was talking and no one was listening. She fought back the urge to slap them all with her light saber. 

"Everyone please be quiet." She said just loud enough for them to hear her. When they were all quiet she went on. "I'm not happy either but we are going to fly into a combat zone. This is not like the droid flying to the complex, this time they know without a doubt that we are coming. I'll let the droid do most of the flying but will be here as back up. Once we get the crew on board any pilot that is still alive can take over for me but until then I am staying right here!"

"Tahiri, you be no good to the others if you pass out." Master Skywalker said she could hear his deep concern for her in his voice.

"I'm using the Force to keep my self conscious and start healing. I promise you Master Skywalker, as soon as another pilot is on board I will go into a healing trance. But right now I'm the only pilot here."

There was a long pause; she looked at the controls only sometimes seeing double controls.

"How long till you get to the _Widowmaker_?"

"5 minutes sir."

"Tahiri, you die on me I will be very angry with you."

"I know Luke," she said with a grin, it was nice to know that she was loved. The droid made a noise that didn't translate but sounded like a sigh of defeat.

"Keep this channel open so we can monitor your progress."

"Yes sir."

"I'll go back and get the crew loaded. Trooper you stay up here, as soon as another pilot get here help her to her cabin."

"Yes sir!"

"Our helms man has been notified she will head to the bridge as soon as she get on board. I'll have two storm troopers escort her to the ship."

Tahiri let their voice fall into the background as she struggled to keep her concentration on the controls and where she was flying too.

Captain Arien Yage looked at the engineering nightmare that was her bridge. When her ship crashed on this planet over half of it was destroyed, including most of engineering, hangers and many critical relay stations. The only saving grace is that they had a full month before the aliens showed up and started to attack them. If the aliens had launched an attack within days of their crash they wouldn't have had a chance against them. But in that month, and the time since, every member of the crew from her to the lowest cook on board worked around the clock to do some hasty repairs. Power lines were scavaged from what was left of engineering, batteries were slowy recharges using emergency solar power, new relays were installed, bulkheads removed, shield control practically rebuilt from scratch. Strom Troopers went through what was left of the city finding any supplies that could be used. Surviving aliens had shot them at but they remember what was important and didn't deviate from their mission to avenge fallen comrades.

When the aliens did arrive in force, the crew hunkers down for the long haul. They still worked at getting at least one turbo-laser working, the shields strengthen they still worked to survive. The pride she felt for her crew was greater then words could say. When she briefed them earlier on the plan that the Jedi had come up with she tried to tell them just how proud she was. Usually when she says that they were the finest crew in the Imperial Navy, it was mostly just words a ra-ra speech to instill a sense of pride in them. But this time she couldn't say it without getting choke up, with out her eyes getting moist. This crew had survived the worst that the universe could throw at them and they came through it. There they were, all 212 of the survivors sitting around the bridge as she stood at her station babbling like an idiot and crying. They were all dirty and smelly, no one had taken a shower in months water was too scarce, tired from the months of repair works, from months of around the clock shelling, hungry from the lack of food but they never lost hope that their Captain would get them home safely. That is what Captains do they protect their crews, they make sure they get home to their families. Many wouldn't and that hung on her like a planetary weight, a mistake that can never be repaired. But she would make damn sure the ones who were left would get home. She tried to tell them but she couldn't. But they knew, the crew somehow always knows what their Captain was trying to say, and as one without anyone giving the order they stood straight and tall and salute her.

"Sergeant, make sure crewman Lit is the first one on the _Double Trouble_, the Jedi has been injured and they need a back up pilot." She said into the comm. link as she walked over to the signal surviving turbo-laser control board. "Have two of your men escort her on board."

"Yes Captain." There was a short pause then he went on, "Ma'am I have 15 men who are willing to switch places with you."

"No Sergeant, the Captain is always the last off her ship."

"Yes Ma'am. Good luck Captain." His voice distressed.

"May the Force be with you all." She said closing the connection as she sat down behind the crude targeting console. _Damn fine crew!_ She thought as she began targeting the largest ships out on the sea. The auto firing controls was not repaired enough to allow the computer to handle it, it had to be aimed and fired by a person. Next to her was the last duty for her to perform; this ship even in its present state cannot fall into the aliens' hands.

Tahiri could see the ships that surrounded the island on her scanners before she could see they visually. They had resume heavy bombardment of the island but didn't seem to notice that she was on the way. Which surprised her considering the four planes that they had passed. One tried to shoot her down with a crude missile but it was too slow to catch her.

"Stand by one minute."

As she approached she saw the _Widowmaker_ open up with one turbo-laser, targeting the ships out at sea. The large ships disappeared in a flash of light and explosions, slowly sinking below the water. As she passed over the land she saw many men point their weapons at her as she slowed down enough to come in for a landing.

"Angle the defectors please, we don't want some luck shot to bring us down."

YES TAHIRI

About 14 storm troopers had position themselves and a couple E-webs to outline a landing zone. They were taking a bloody toll on the natives of this planet. She could see hundreds of bodies falling in pieces as they try to reach her and the _Widowmaker_. The trooper at her guns divided his attention between the ground and a few of the aircraft that was flying near them. She heard the bridge door open behind her.

"Ma'am, I am a pilot," an older dark hair woman said stepping up to her.

"Good," Tahiri was beginning to fade in and out too much. "Master Skywalker I'm going now."

"Ok Tahiri, I down load the course the droid is to take. The Star Destroyer _Mon Mothma_ will met you in one week."

As she walked back to the rear of the bridge she felt the ship lurched, she started to turn to ask what happened but never made it. She didn't even remember passing out.


	8. Chapter 8

Commander Ritk knocked on the door to the young Jedi's cabin. It has been 4 days since they fled the planet with their collective tails between their legs. At least that is how he felt about the whole situation especially since his captain had stayed behind to make sure the _Widowmaker_ would never fall into the aliens' hands. The image of her death will forever be burned into his eyes as he watched from the bridge. They had gotten to a safe altitude when she set off a chain reaction with the power core. The power core had been twitchy anyways since the crash. It was not so much as rigging it to blow, as the surviving engineer had explained to him later, it was so damaged that it hard to keep it from blowing in the first place. That is why it had been on stand by power and they had been using batteries for everything. The Captain had to stay behind since they had no way of insuring that the reaction would happen only after the _Double Trouble_ was clear. It was a blow to the crew, they all knew that she was staying behind, but the power of her sacrifice still touched them all deeply. Even the storm troopers, the most cold-blooded men he had ever served with, left their helmets on as he gave a short eulogy. 

The door was opened by the Jedi's little droid; it was standing in her doorway blocking access. Ritk gave him a tight little smile, amused by the over protective little droid. If it wasn't on the bridge-helping crewman Lit plot a hyperspace course it was in her cabin standing watch over her.

"Who is it?" He heard the Jedi call out weakly from inside.

The droid spun its dome around and beeped and whistles at her.

"Let him in."

The droid made some sour notes at that request.

"Yes, I'm sure. I'm strong enough to talk, plus he wouldn't bother me unless it was important."

The droid spun its dome around to 'look' at him, he was sure if it had a face it would be glaring at him right now. With one last sour note it back up so Ritk could enter the room. He saw the young Jedi in the same position that she had been since she passed out on the bridge. She was laying on her back with a feeding tub snaking under the cover to her left arm, her right shoulder heavily bandaged. Her color was getting better and she didn't look like she was knocking on deaths door anymore.

"Captain, I just wanted to let you know that we have left hyperspace and waiting for the _Mon Mothma _to arrive."

"Thank you Commander, how did the repairs to my ship go?" 

"Our repair work was haphazard but holding. We should be fine but your ship will need some time in the shop once you get back to your Jedi base." Ritk had always been worried that they would miss some important military secret from one of the main powers on that planet, due to their lack of computers to tap into. The Jedi had also expressed fears that they would pull a hare out of their hat when they were not expecting it. Just as they evacuation was commencing, just after the relief pilot was in place, two innocent looking barges showed them that their fears weren't unfounded. The two barges, from a minor power even, had been secretly been refitted to a crude kind of missile launch platform. Hundreds of crude but effective missiles were hurdled at the _Double Trouble_. The shields had stopped many initially but they had overloaded the shields for less then a minute long enough to cause some damage. The Jedi's ship had suffered some hull damaged that his crew fixed with the few tools she had on board; some repairs, such as to her escape pods, was left alone since they were not essential to the safety of the ship. "Your escape pod is damaged beyond our abilities to fix it. We figured it best to leave it alone since the seals are holding ok. The quad-guns are still inoperable, the concussion missiles launchers are out."

"Great, first mission and I do years worth of damaged to my ship." The Jedi said grimly, "Yea this is going to look good on my report."

"I wouldn't worry to much about the damage, in operations such as this one some damage is expected. You would be surprise how much is forgotten in the light of success." Ritk said with a small grin. He lost his grin when the Jedi didn't return his smile. "What?"

"I'm not sure that many would consider this a successful operation."

"Why? You located and rescued 218 Imperial citizens against all odds. You took on an entire planet and came out ahead."

"Yes, but how many natives died while I was rescuing you and your crew?" she said looking down at her bed, "I'm sure many of the Jedi would be asking questions such as; 'Why didn't you contact the natives?' Or 'Was it necessary to attack the complex?' I don't think they will understand. A Jedi is supposed to preserve life, to take steps to limited the number of deaths. I'm not supposed to go around letting hundreds of thousands die. Now I will have to sit through many of them taking apart every move I made and listen to them tell me how they would have done things differently. How I should have done 'B' or 'C' but not 'J' unless I did 'O' first."

"Ah yes, hindsight is always nice. What you may have thought might happen suddenly become a fact that you knew but chose to ignore."

"Exactly," she said with a small grin, "nice to see I'm not the only one having to deal with this."

"Well you're not, such desk jockeys are the bane of all fighting men and women. I assure you that when I arrive back to Imperial space I too will have them circling around me. The last toast to the crew and I will still be echoing through the hall when they will start telling me how _they_ would have handle the situation if they had been in charge." Ritk said with some sadness, he knew much censure will fall on his Captain and she won't be able to defend herself. The dead make such lovely scapegoats since they have a hard time being heard. "Granted there are a couple moves I would have made differently but that is what hindsight is really for. It is not there so some pompous windbag that would defecate himself at the sound of the first blaster being fires can point out how wrong you were. Hindsight is there so you can learn how _not_ to make the same mistake again, so the next time you can get all your people home in one piece."

"Yea there is a lot that I have learned from this trip." She said sounding stronger and surer of herself. "I will have a lot of questions to answer when I get back but Commander Ritk I have to tell you the truth. As I look back over the past week, taking into everything I had to do to get you people home; I have to tell you over all I would do everything the same way."

"Everything?"

"Pretty much," she said nodding her head, "oh I would have taken some extra guns so we wouldn't had to use the grenades but all in all the mission was to find you guys. Once I found you I was to assist you in returning home. I tried to do it in the Jedi way but was cut off from any help. That is what sealed the plan, without help I had to do things the way I did."

"And if you had help available?"

"Then everything would have been different, if they knew where I was no matter what happened to me they would have known where you were and could finished in my place." The young Jedi struggled to sit up in her bed. Ritk was not surprise to see her in a jumpsuit with the right arm cut off, the girl had a modesty streak in her that just about everyone would consider extreme. Jedi Master Skywalker had briefed them about her quarks while she was still out, and to Ritk's experienced ear, he sounded a bit dubious about most of the instructions. However odd they may have been, Ritk and the rest of the crew didn't question them. To them she was their hero and they were willing to do just about anything to help her. Plus Ritk knew annoying a Jedi was not the way to live till retirement. "If I had known that the rest of the fleet, yours or mine, was on the way to help us, I could open discussion with the natives and laid the ground work for a peaceful resolution. Or at worst I could stalled them, distract them long enough for the others to get the job done."

"In a perfect universe."

"Yes," she said with slightly twisted lips, "and we all know how perfect the universe is. I'm ready for the inquest, mentally, but I just wish that I didn't have to go through it." She then looked at him in an odd way. "Commander, I hope that you too have a easy time when you get back. If you should run into any problems, remember what your captain had done. Many will see her as a coward, as a failure; but she did sacrifice herself for a great cause. She died so that you and the rest of her crew could continual to serve the Force."

Ritk didn't know how to responded to that statement and was saved by his comm. link beeping at him.

"Yes?"

"Crewman Lit, sir. The _Mon Mothma _has just dropped out of hyperspace."

Ritk looked over at the Jedi, she was motioning for his comm. link. He surrenders it since she was the captain of this vessel.

"Sallie, this is Captain Tahiri. Signal them and then lay in an intercept course. Tell them that I'm requesting that they tractor in the _Double Trouble_ in their hold."

"Yes, ma'am." Crewman Lit said then after a short pause she resumed. "Ma'am I'm familiar enough to land your ship without any assist."

Ritk started to form a rebuke on his lips but it died as the Jedi held up her right arm, wincing slightly as she did so.

"I know Sallie, but you been flying my ship for four days with no real break. That and everything else that you have been through for the past year, I think you deserved to let someone else do the hard work. And if they so much as scratch the pain you can help me take it out of their hides."

"Yes, ma'am." Ritk could hear a slight amused tone in the crewman's voice. After another pause she came back. "_Mon Mothma _agrees with the assist, they didn't sound too happy about it either. Medical teams will be standing by in the main landing bay, along with Jedi Master Horn," Ritk saw a small wince on the Jedi face that had nothing to do with her injuries, "and the Captain of the _Mon Mothma._ Intercept course laid in, ETA 15 minutes."

"Very well, I'm sending the droid up to the bridge. Hopefully he can let you know ahead of time if they screw up and going to dent my ship."

The droid let out some tones and whistles, the Jedi just glared at him. The droid gave out a very human sounding sigh and started heading to the bridge.

"Yes ma'am, bridge out."

"Commander, could you please have them see to Doctor Hegerty first then have them check the rest of your crew. I can hold out until the rest of you get checked out."

"You should still have that shoulder looked at."

"Oh I will, but I have a feeling Master Horn will want to talk to me before I go for a swim. I just don't want any of your people to interfere and hold up their own check ups waiting for me. I'm sure that they have everything ready for you but if you run into any trouble let me know, I try to get it for you."

"Thank you, Jedi Tahiri. And in case the powers to be don't allow me to say this later, I want to thank you for all that you have done. In the future if you have any need please know that there are some in the Empire that would be willing to help you."

The Jedi crossed her arms, one fist on the opposite shoulder, and gave him a deepest bow that she could give sitting in the bunk.

"I thank you Commander Ritk for your kind words, you do me more honor then I deserve."

Corran stood waiting on the flight deck as the _Double Trouble_ lifted up through the landing bay hatch in the deck of the landing bay. He was well aware of the injuries that Tahiri had suffered and the damaged to the ship from the briefing Luke had sent him. The primitive missiles had, very temporary, brought down the shields on the port side. None of the missiles had been strong enough to crack the hull enough to make it unsafe for space travel, except in a few places which the Imperials had done hasty but effective repairs. But seeing it just renewed his anger at the whole situation. 

He knew, he just knew, that something like this would happen with her running around on her own. During the mission to Coruscant then later to Zonama Sekot, Tahiri had expressed concerns about her Jedi training. She had felt that since her merging, or whatever happened to her, that she was no longer a properly trained Jedi and need a new Master. Without additional training her incomplete Jedi training could lead her down the Dark Side. Corran had the same fears that she had about her merging but he was more worried about some deeply hidden Yuuzhan Vong impulse raising up and taken hold. During the long hyperspace jump on Zonama Sekot Corran had discussed with both Luke and Mara his fears and Tahiri's fears about her training. Luke felt that she was selling herself short and so was Corran. He felt that she would be able to handle herself in a proper Jedi manner after she completes some missions on her own. Corran had voiced his concerns but in the end he bowed to Luke's decision.

_And now we see the results._ He thought as watch the landing gear extend to the deck.

"I'm sure she ok dad." Valin said from his spot on his left.

"Yes, but it is not her injuries I am worried about."

"She didn't do anything too wrong …"

"She did everything wrong." Corran turn to look at his son, his son had grown a lot during the Yuuzhan Vong war and in a way he was glad that Luke was willing to allow Valin to complete his apprenticeship with him. It was difficult sometimes being a father and teacher but Corran felt that it would do more good in the long run for both of them. "Tahiri actions made a serious problem worst."

"She did the best she could dad."

"No Valin, she didn't." Corran said watching the main hold-loading ramp down. "You will help the crew with the Imperial while I talk to Tahiri."

"Dad …"

"No arguments Valin." Corran said looking at his son who was now as tall as he was. Valin looked like he might argue some more but visibly decided against it. He nodded his head as they started walking towards the _Double Trouble_.

Inside the hold Corran could see the tired, dirty but satisfied grins of people who know that they will soon be home. They had suffered much in the past few months he could see that clearly in their faces.

"Master Horn?"

Corran turned and saw an Imperial Commander standing to his right, his uniform was torn and Corran could clearly see the abuse that he had suffered.

"Yes Commander?"

"I'm Commander Ritk, I just wanted to take a moment to say 'Thank you' for sending Jedi Tahiri out to find us. Without her assistance I do not believe any of us would be alive right now."

"We are glad," Corran never thought he would _ever_ get use to saying that to an Imperial officer, "that Tahiri was able to locate you and your crew. After all the help that the _Widowmaker_ extended to Master Skywalker and his mission to find Zonama Sekot and being pulled into a emergency hyper jump we would be shrinking in our responsibility if we had taken any other course."

"Yes, I see." The commander's eyes seem to harden around the edges, "Well what ever the reasons may be, without her help we would all be suffering a fate worst then death. Even if she did it in a less then optimum manner, after all the proper Imperial response would have been more effective."

"Yes, I sure blasting every native into ash would have been more efficient." Corran said.

"Without a doubt." The commander said with a small grin. "Good day to you sir."

Corran watch him walk out of the main hold with the assistance from one of the _Mon Mothma _medical personal, thinking how you could take the Imperial out of the Empire but never take the Empire out of the solider. In many ways the natives had been very fortunate that it had been Tahiri would found them first and not the Empire. He could imagine the wasteland that the Empire would have left behind if they had found the crew of the _Widowmaker_ first.


	9. Chapter 9

Corran knocked on the cabin door and waited for Tahiri to answer it. He was surprise to look down and see R2-L616 blocking the door. It beeped and whistled a long complicated sentence at her before turning its dome to look at him.

"No, I don't want any arguments this time. Let Master Horn in and you go wait for me in the main hold." He heard Tahiri say from inside the cabin. He could see her sitting up in her bunk with a data pad in her lap. The droid let out some sour sounding notes as it pushed past Corran. Tahiri gave him a loop sided grin that she must have picked up from hanging around the Solo's all these years. "Sorry about that he has developed a protective streak towards me."

"Yes, Whistler has the same feeling towards my family and I." Corran said carefully hiding his amusement, he had a hard job to do here and he didn't want her to mistaken why he was here. He turned on a recording device and set it down on her desk. "Do you feel ready for a debriefing?"

"Yes Master Horn." Corran notice through the Force that she had braced herself mentally but outward she never stirred.

"Very well, let us start at the beginning. You can start by you giving me the details of your actions since leaving Zonama Sekot." Corran said sitting on the edge of her bunk and crossing his arms. It took about an hour for her to explain what she did and why, she even had the droid pull all relevant logs and communication and down load them in to a data pad which she gave to him. She didn't waste time trying to explain why she did what she did; she just laid it all out and allowed him to come to his own conclusions. "How were you discovered?"

"I just don't know, I reviewed the files with the natives communications after we were discovered. The droid told me that a native had found the modified data pad sliced into the information hub and removed it. How they discovered it in the first place or what made them look in that area, I just don't know. The droid was more worried about getting down to us to monitor communication channels closely."

"Why 3 concussion missiles?"

"It took 2 missiles to blow open the door. Just before he blew it open I had him target the roof of the complex to slow down any reinforcements coming in behind us. There were about 25 troops stationed inside the complex blocking the door with 10 outside. They were either killed or injured by the initial blast. The second blast mostly injured the 4 squads closing in behind us. I saw many of the troops laying on the ground stun by either the blast or the failing rocks."

"They weren't all stunned, were they?" He said pointing to her injuries.

"True, but having only a couple troops firing was better then having four squads worth. It was not that the slugs were harder to deflect, it was just the numbers that presented the problem."

"That was the same problem that the _Widowmaker_ was having with the natives attacking them."

"Yes, like the Ewoks at Endor, these natives there had superior numbers not superior tactics or weapons. And considering the damage that the _Widowmaker_ had suffered during the crash it was only a matte of time before their shield failed. I'm impressed that the Imperials had been able to keep their shields up with the condition of their ship and all the junk the natives were throwing at them." She stopped and looked down at the covers. "They never told me about the main power reactor nor about their plans to self destruct the _Widowmaker_. I'm not sure how that would affect my plans had I known. The droid recorded the explosion on the way out. It is under file heading W-089, I watched it about a hundred times."

Corran brought the file up; on the small screen he could see a view of the _Widowmaker_ as they lifted up into the sky. He could see the shield flash as hundreds of small and large slugs slammed into them. Then the explosion had overwhelmed the scanner briefly but when it cleared he saw a wave slam into the crafts out on the water. After the wave past them none of the craft were visible on the surface. The island itself was a black and smoking ruin. It was clear that none of the invading forces had survived.

"There had been hundreds on those ships and 50,000 troops on the island. I wanted to minimizes death and destruction while rescuing the crew."

"The Imperials never hinted at their plans after they left the island?"

"Nope."

"Well if there is a next time you know what questions to ask, don't you?"

Her head snapped up and she was searching his face for some clue to what he was thinking of.

"Now Jedi Knight Veila, can you tell me were you made mistakes?" Corran said in a formal tone.

"It is just Tahiri now." She said off handily as she squirmed into a more conferrable position.

"Let's not get off track Veila, answer the question. Where did you make your first mistake?"

"I don't believe I made a mistake Cor." She said, adding stress to his name. Corran knew that she was letting him know what she thought of him using her full name. He clamped down on his irritation; there were more important lessons to be learned here.

"This is official interview Veila, and as you know being recorded, so I wish you to show some respect and use my full name and not some childish nick name."

"Then please show me some respect, Master Horn. I'm not 'Tahiri Veila' anymore nor am I 'Riina Kwaad', I'm Tahiri."

"Jedi Veila, let us not get off on a irrelevant track here."

"Master Horn, it is not irrelevant to me, you wish for respect. So do I, please call me Tahiri."

"I will treat you as you as deserve, quit acting like a little child and I'll treat you like a adult. Now then where did you make your first mistake?"

"I do not believe I did make any mistakes." She grounded out.

"Oh really! So you did everything perfectly? That is pretty childish attitude don't you think."

"No," she was growing more restless, "I would done some things differently. I would have taken more weapons …"

"Oh weapons yes that is a mature response for a child to make."

"… So we wouldn't have to use the grenades in defense." She said talking over his response. "I also would have attempted some kind diversion to draw away more troops away from our escape route. Once we were discovered logically the Level One Sector A was the only way out."

"So you would still went it with no regarded for the lives involved? You had to be the great Jedi waving your light saber around like some holo-drama character."

"No, I didn't." She grounded out in an even huskier voice. Corran could feel the anger building in her. "Why are you acting like this?"

"So you won't sit back and do some planning?" He said ignoring her question, "You would still went in charging like a little child, not caring who got hurt or who died as long as you could be the hero!"

"I didn't want to be a hero! All I wanted to do is get the Imperials home safe! All I wanted was to correct a mistake I made on Zonama Sekot! I didn't know how else to do it, I didn't know the Imperials were going to blow up their Khapet ship!"

"Oh so now it is the Imperials fault, you have no responsibility for what happened!"

"Everything that happened was my responsibility!"

"Then where did you make your first mistake child!"

She started talking quickly and angrily in Yuuzhan Vong, he could feel her reach the boiling point. He sat there on the edge of her bed, bracing himself for what ever would come. Then as quickly as it started, it died. He heard her take a deep breath and then look sharply at him. She studied him for a few minutes, not saying a word, and then she slumped back on her bunk and closed her eyes.

"Khapet," she said still not looking at anything. After a long pause she continued, "My first mistake was I lost my temper with Ensign Hertz when I was trying to contact Master Skywalker for help. If I had not lost my temper I wouldn't have been blocked and I could have tried to contact them again later after Hertz was off duty."

"Yes," Corran said softly, "that was your first mistake. What made you realizes it?"

"As I was calling you names, the whole conversation struck a cord in my memory. Suddenly I was reliving the whole thing again with Ensign Hertz. That is when I noticed what you were doing; you were trying to show me how I screwed up by making me repeat the mistake. I saw very clearly how if I hadn't let my anger get the best of me I wouldn't be laying here right now and I wouldn't have caused so many deaths."

"I'm sorry about that but I needed you to figure it out on your own. Lessons learned from experience are the best, analyzing why you did what you did is best learned then on your own then having someone explain it to you. Now that you see what you had done, how could you make sure that doesn't happen again?"

"I have to work on not letting people get under my skin, I have to get a tighter rein my anger." She said sitting back up and opening her eyes and looking at Corran. "My second mistake …"

"No," Corran held up his hand stopping her from continua ling. "Here is the paradox, everything thing you did after that was correct."

"I don't understand?" She said shaking her head and not even trying to hide her confusion.

"Like I said it is a paradox." He got up and started pacing the small cabin. "Tahiri, you spend two days gathering intelligence on the complex so you could hit it when they were the most vulnerable, you held down your impulses and took extra time to insure that you would not be discovered early. You had R2-L616 modified a pad so he could have access to their computers to assist you. You even took a special amphistaff along so you didn't have to risk shooting them with a stun blast. By using that staff you presented them with something that they could not understand, they couldn't know that they were under attack. To them it was just some animal that somehow crawled into the complex. If you had shoot one the other could have gotten off an alarm. They would have known that they were under attack; their training could have saved them long enough to alert the rest of the base. Also the sound of the stun blast could have alerted other that you were there, imagine trying to fight your way out from the prison cells? Yes, carrying extra blasters would have been better then using a grenade in the stair access. And how they found the data pad that sounds like bad luck, luck on a mission such as this one counts as much as intelligence, sometimes it just happens. For someone who has almost no intelligence or commando training, you did extremely well. Tahiri, you really impressed me and Luke."

"What about the _Widowmaker_?" She didn't react like he thought she would, normally she would be blushing at the thought that she had impressed him. She had grown up a lot since she had been gone. Now she seems more interested in learning from him then impressing him.

"That was not your fault," he said with a sigh and sitting back down, "Captain Yege was acting like a Imperial officer. You don't have the experience with them like Luke or Han or I would have, to you they have been allies and not to different from us. But to an Imperial Captain, to leave a ship like that behind for the natives to use would have gone against everything they had been trained to do. Where we would destroy the computer cores and any other potential source of information, the Imperials would make sure the entire ship was useless to anyone. It comes from the Rebellion where we would salvage any wreaked ships. Also, as in this case, it is a bit of revenge. They figure if someone forced them to abandon a ship, they should pay a high price for embarrassing the Empire."

"What about the power core?"

"I talked to the chief engineer of the _Mon Mothma,_ we both looked over the data that R2-L616 had forward to Luke, and it is true that the power core was going to go soon. How soon is up to debate, it is very possible that we couldn't have gotten there in time to stop it form exploding anyways. Did she have to stay on to make sure it didn't explode before you were clear is also unknown?"

"Wait!" she said looking very confused, "Are you saying that I could have been in negotiation with the natives and have that power core blow anyways killing everyone, including the Imperials, on that island?"

"Yes."

"Are you saying by doing the wrong thing I was actually doing the right thing?"

"Yes." he said with a nod and a very tight smile.

"Fas!" She said slumping back and covering her eyes with her hands. "Then how the hells am I supposed to know what to do!"

"Well first watch your mouth, Jedi aren't supposed to sound like spice smugglers." He said with a small chuckle. Tahiri uncovered her eyes and gave him a mock glare. "Second, it is training. Although sometimes it doesn't become clear until after the action is over. Third and most important trust in the Force."

"Yes Master, thank you Master." She said crossing her arms in a very Vong like manner and gave him a bow. "And I try to clean up my fas languages." She said with a small grin.

"I don't know what you said but I can take a good guess." Corran replied while rolling his eyes. "Anyways, I had already made a recommendation to Luke about extending your training. He is not happy about it but we should have a answer by the time we get back."

"Will you be my new Master?"

"No, Tahiri. I have my hands full with Valin already. Besides I can't give you the training you need. For you someone better then I will teach you what you need." Corran said getting up and walking to the door.

"None of the other masters can help me like you can."

Corran could hear a trace of disappointment in her voice.

"You would be surprise Tahiri." He opens the door and motioned two medics in to the room. "But first you need to heal we will take about it later."

Tahiri wiped the last of the bacta from her hair and as she listened to the doctor give her detail instructions on how she need to take it easy on her right shoulder for the next couple weeks. Well she kind of listened; she was mostly nodding her head at the correct times to hurry up the doctor. She felt extremely uncomfortable in the medical robe and wanted to get changed into her normal ship clothes. The droid, somehow and it was very sweet of him, had a black combat suit brought to her room for her to change into once she got out of the bacta tank. She made a mental note not to get hurt again and have to be dunked. It took Master Horn and 3 medics four hours to convince her to get into the undershirt and short pants; she wanted to go in wearing a jumpsuit. But no, they tried to explain that the bacta worked best when it didn't have to fight through clothes. Because of her side wounds they originally wanted her to go in naked. They had to send security out to catch her when she ran out of the medical bay after that suggestion had been floated.

_Getting naked? In front of all these people? No way!_ Lucky Master Horn, after seeing her turn five shades of red, sided with her. The short pants and undershirt was the compromise that they finally came up with. She remembers that Commander Ritk, who was still in the medical bay being treated, had found the whole thing amusing.

"Are all Jedi this, how should I say, committed to certain beliefs?"

"No," Master Horn said looking at her with a sour and strained patient look, "but Tahiri has always been more thick headed then most."

Tahiri, while floating in the tank, could just imagine all these people walking by to gawk at the Human/Yuuzhan Vong and her bare skin. She knew that Master Horn would never allow anything like that to happen to her but she couldn't shake that view.

"… So do you understand?" The doctor said closing down his data pad.

"Yes."

The doctor crossed his arms and glared at her.

"Oh so you will rub oil over your body and do the 'happy' dance with the Ewoks?"

"What?" She looked at him as if he suddenly sported a shaper's head snakes.

"For the past 3 minutes I been explaining to you how you should travel to Endor for 3 weeks and dance with Ewoks. I wanted to see if you were paying attention." He uncrossed his arms and punched some buttons on his pad. Tahiri, looking sheepishly, just shrugged her left shoulder not even trying to talk her way out of it. "You are not in the Navy, so I can't order you to follow my advice. But if you don't follow these directions you will end up back here for another dunk." He pulled out a data chip and handed it to her. He also gave her a stern look as she took the chip. "And if you come back in here for me to fix your shoulder, this time I _will_ make sure you go in naked; understand Jedi Tahiri?"

"Yes doctor," she said wincing, somehow she didn't think he was joking. "I will make sure I follow all your orders."

"Then you are released form Medical, you can get dressed and go back to your ship." He said shaking her left hand.

When Tahiri finally left (_escaped_) the medical bay, she headed down to the main bay. In a few hours the _Mon Mothma _would drop out of hyperspace near Coruscant. The Imperials and _Mon Mothma_ would continual to Yaga Minor while the _Double Trouble, _with the Horns, would head towards Denon were Master Skywalker would be waiting for her. She wanted to give her ship a once over before they left. The Imperials had done some patchwork to the _Double Trouble_ on their way to from the planet. They had been good enough to get them to safety but once she landed the techs on _Mon Mothma_ wanted to a more thorough job. The droid had made sure that they didn't go into certain parts of the ship, such as the 'escape pod', citing security concerns. The pod actually was in poor shape and would have to be replaced, but she wanted to have it replaced with the same equipment. So it would have to wait until they got back to Denon. Of course most of her Yuuzhan Vong weapons had been stored in the pod, those would have to wait till she went back to Zonama Sekot.

When she walked into Landing Bay Alpha she saw her ship parked near the launch hatch, sitting alone with the starboard personal ramp lowered waiting for her return. You couldn't see the damaged that had been done to her; the techs had welded the hull and slap some new paint on her. Walking around checking the landing gear and looking for any other visible signs of damage she was surprise just how excited she was about flying again. Before when she flew it was to either escape or cause death. Since she left Zonama Sekot she had been flying in search of life. And while doing that she found the joy of flying that Anakin and the others had always talked about. The freedom and responsibility that came with absolute control over your destiny was intoxicating. As she walked up the ramp a thought hit her out of nowhere. Once she gets a new master she may never have this freedom again. That thought made her stop half way up the ramp, many of the Jedi are now relying on other to ferry them around the galaxy like the records shown that many Jedi had done in the Old Republic. Only a very few such as Master Skywalker, Jade-Skywalker and her had their own ships, that did their own flying. Even Master Horn and Durron, both excellent pilots, allowed themselves to be ferried around now. It made her sad to think that she finally found something that made her happy just to have to give it up. But she knew that if her new master told her to give up her ship she would, there were something that were more important to consider. She had to get a grip on her powers; she was a bigger risk to the galaxy as a half trained Jedi. So if her duty requires for her to give up the newfound joy of flying, she would do so. After all her new training wouldn't last the rest of her life, one day she would get to fly again.

She headed to the bridge area where she could hear the droid talking to himself. When she walked in she saw him already plugged in to the ship's computer, running a check on the systems. His dome spun around and he beeped and whistled a greeting to her. She gave him a warm smile and tapped her left ear, a signal that she didn't have her tizowyrm in place yet. After she sat down and put one in her ear he repeated his statement.

WELCOME BACK TAHIRI, ARE THE REPAIRS COMPLETE?

"Thank you, yes my injuries are all healed. Although the doctor gave me a list of exercises to help strengthen my shoulder." She said as she took the data chip out and uploaded it in to the ship's computer. "How is our ship doing?"

ALL REPAIRS, EXCEPT TO THE COMMUNICATION AND INTELLIGENCE GATHERING POD, ARE COMPLETE AND CERTIFIED BY THE _MON MOTHMA _MECHANICS TO BE WITHIN STANDARD FOR THIS CLASS OF SHIPS. I'M INITIALIZING PRE FLIGHT PROTOCOLS.

She sat back in her chair and watched him for a while in silences, she was sure she had the right name for him now. He was definably developing a personality; he was resourceful, always worrying about her. He was reminding him of her friend.

TAHIRI, HAVE YOU BEEN INFORMED OF YOUR NEXT MISSION?

"Not yet, Master Skywalker wants to wait till we get back to Denon before he tells me."

HAVE YOU HEARD WHAT WILL BE COME OF ME?

Tahiri could swear he sounded worried when he said that, she leaned forward and ran her hand over his shinny dome. She was thinking how cool it was to the touch but he had a warm heart in that cold metal body.

"No matter what you and I are partners. Where I go you go. If my new master has any problems with that, well I just have to turn down that assignment. I give up the _Double Trouble_, I give up my joy of flying and my independences but I won't give up you."

THANK YOU TAHIRI. Tahiri could almost hear relief in his tones.

"In fact I think I found the perfect name for you." The droid spun his dome to face her, "My friend Anakin had a call sign that he used on missions. And you remind me of him and to honor his memory and to honor you, I wish to call you by that name."

WHAT IS MY NEW NAME?

"I want to call you 'Little Brother', is that ok with you?"

I AM LITTLE BROTHER.

"Do you like that name?"

YES!

"I'm happy Little Brother." She said with a grin and patted his dome. She then leaned back in her chair and started out the view port, wondering what the future holds for her.


	10. Chapter 10

Tahiri pushed the hyperspace controls forward and dropped her ship back into real space. Looking out the forward view port she could see the artificial glow of Denon as it grew in her sights. She felt slightly sick as she saw the planet reflect sunlight back and saw it was a city-planet like Coruscant had been. She wasn't quite sure which half was expressing itself as she looked at the planet. Old 'Tahiri Veila' had been raised in the deserts of Tatooine and the jungles of Yavin 4 surrounded by the pulse of life and the Force while 'Riina Kwaad' grew up on the World ship as it traveled to this galaxy. Neither one of them would like living on a world such as Coruscant or Denon. Living on the _Double Trouble_ was one thing, it had never been a living-breathing thing, but to live on an abomination that Denon represented was something else. To her, it was a perverse joke to cover planets with so much metal that the natural life was no longer able to grow on its own. She could only hope that her new master would understand her desire to leave Denon as soon as possible.

Behind her, she heard the access hatch open.

"What is wrong?" Master Horn said from behind her.

"Nothing we just arrived."

"Something is wrong."

"Why do you say that?" She was in her Yuuzhan Vong mode; he shouldn't be able to feel her discomfort at the sight of Denon.

"I know you Tahiri, as soon as we dropped out of hyperspace you switched modes. Giving your history, I figured you were trying to hide your dislike of Denon from me." Tahiri could feel his stare burning into her soul.

"It is perverse Master Horn, nothing can grow down there naturally." She felt an echo of something from him, she let her normal Force awareness flow back in her. He was now blocking her from reading him.

"It is the way things are Tahiri."

Something in his tone was challenging and testing her again.

"I'm not a techno-hater, you know, Little Brother, _Double Trouble_ and other things are ok. Little Brother is as natural as you or I, Master Horn. But to kill a living breathing planet and do that to it." She shook her head in disgust.

"In a way, Denon is still a living planet. There are people and animals who live there."

"Artificially Master Horn," she said turning to look up at him, "like Coruscant used to be. When I went there with Master Skywalker and the Wraiths I saw first hand what happens when a planet like that is cut off from the rest of the galaxy. Not only did the survivors have to deal with toxic air, fowl water and hunting parties of Yuuzhan Vong, but food was so scares that death by starvations was more common then any other kind of death. There were parties of cannibals that roamed the under city because they couldn't find anything else to eat." She turned back to her control board. "At least on real planets they would had the chance of finding some kind of food or at least wild animals to eat. On Coruscant …" She let her voice trail off.

Surprisingly Master Horn didn't say anything else after that; she felt that she won that round. When her communication board chirped at her, he was even nice enough to handle the duty of talking to Denon Control.

"They are sending us a course to follow, I uploading it to your navigation panel. We are to by-pass normal custom routine, immigrations formalities are already done and we have priority landing."

"Is that good or bad?" She said locking in the new course.

"Yes." When she turned to glare at him, she saw him give her a grin full of humor. "Don't worry most of the Jedi are able to by-pass customs on Denon. Other planets we are treated like regular citizens so don't get to use to this."

"Why do you supposed they break the rules for us here?"

"Luke could never get a straight answer on that and he is divided on how to handle this. While it is nice that the Jedi can move freely on and off Denon, it smacks of elitism. Luke want to make sure that the Jedi are treated as any other citizens, many of the problems we had during the Yuuzhan Vong war was contributed to how other see us. Many saw us as elites who thought they were too good to be around 'normal' folks. It didn't help many Jedi were acting in a very arrogant manner before the war."

"Master Skywalker always warned us that arrogance was of the dark side; I never thought about it but I can see how it could effected how others saw us."

"Yes, many already mistrust us because of what they think we are. Add a arrogant, know-it-all, self-righteous attitude on top of that and you can see why even the best people can look at us with suspicion."

"How do we fight that?" She asked truly wondering. If she can change people's attitude towards Jedi, she might find a way to get people to change their minds about Yuuzhan Vong. One day hopefully get people to see her without fear.

"You can show people by being the best Jedi you can be. By working with people, not talking down to them or assuming you know all. By remembering that you can only change someone's mind by showing them and educating them to what the truth is." He paused and put his hand on her right shoulder. "Once people learn that you want to work with them and not against them, they will start to trust you. But remember you are a Jedi, even if you are a human/Yuuzhan Vong, you are still a Jedi it won't be easy to change their mind. Don't let it get to you, just keep doing what you need to do."

"I will try to remember Master. I'm wonder if I can change people's minds about Jedi if I could also change people's minds about the Yuuzhan Vong?"

"Maybe," he answered in a thoughtful tone, "back when I was flying with the Rogue Squadron and you came up to me and told me that one day we would not only have peace with the Empire but work closely with them. Well if I didn't have you arrested as a traitor on the spot I would have at least had you investigated. Some times the only way to change people's perceptions about an old enemy is time. Tell me did all the Yuuzhan Vong on Zonama Sekot like us now?"

"No, some think if I hadn't," she paused and restarted hoping Master Horn would miss that pause, "if they hadn't followed Shirrma corrupt rule they would had the gods blessing and won the war."

"I see." She gave a silent sigh, she should known he wouldn't miss anything but he didn't pursued that line of thought. "Again Tahiri, it maybe only after time can all sides see each other in a new light. But that is for the future, lets keep our minds on the here and now. I will send Little Brother up here to help you, I think Valin has gotten beat enough playing Sabacc against him."

"Thanks Master Horn." Tahiri answered with a smile and a short laugh.

Tahiri touched down in her assigned spot at the Jedi hanger at the Main Government Landing Field. Looking out her view port she could see Master Horn's, Master Durron's, Master Skywalker's and Jaina Solo's X-wings sitting off to the sides. All four X-wings were clean and repainted waiting for their owners to return to them. None of the X-wings had their R2 units with them. Also in the hanger was Master Jade-Skywalker's frieghter, the _Jade Shadow_. She didn't see the _Millennium Falcon _nor did she see Master Horn's wife's ship, _Pulsar Skate._ She did, however, see Master Skywalker standing by himself near the hatchway waiting for them to disembark from the _Double Trouble. _She was kind of surprised to see him by himself; she figured her new master would be standing next to him. As soon as she began shutting down the repulses he walked over to the ship.

"Master Horn? Master Skywalker is coming in, could you open the hatch for him while I finish shutting down?" She called over the intercom.

"Will do."

IS THIS A GOOD SIGN? Little Brother asked from his co-pilot position.

"Maybe, I was expecting him and my new master to meet us here. Maybe I have to fly to Ossus to meet him or her. Still there aren't that many Masters?" She knew that she would not get luck enough for one to one training with Master Skywalker or Jade-Skywalker. With Ben, their duties to the Senate, the Jedi Council and other little jobs, both of them were way to busy to also train her. Then again maybe the Council had decided that she was not in need of more training. After all Master Skywalker had told them both that he would let them know after they got back, he never said for sure that she would get follow up training. "Come on lets go see what they are going to do with us."

When Tahiri and Little Brother walked back in to the lounge, she saw that Valin had already left the ship. She was sadden by the way Valin reacted to her on the way here, it was like he was afraid of saying the wrong thing or doing the wrong thing and making her mad. She wished he could understand that she had changed in many ways but she was still was able to take a joke. After all he, too, had change a lot since they were both students on Yavin 4. She wonders quietly to herself if Sannah would also react to her in the same way if they spent a week together in hyperspace.

Master Skywalker was smiling at her but seemed to be uneasy about something, while Master Horn was making no effort to hide his feeling about something. He was pacing back and forth in her lounge, shaking his head.

"Welcome back Tahiri." Master Skywalker said with a smile on his face.

"Thank you, Master Skywalker." She said crossing her arms and bowing to him. "Little Brother and I are happy to see you again."

"Little Brother?" Master Skywalker asked, "Why did you chose that name?"

"In many ways his actions during and after our mission reminded me of Anakin," she looked down at Little Brother with a wary grin, "especially when he wouldn't leave me alone until I was healed. So to honor Anakin Solo and him, I thought that Anakin's old call sign would be a good choice."

"You're right, it is a good choice. Hello Little Brother."

HELLO MASTER SKYWALKER, WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO TO TAHIRI?

"He says hello." Tahiri said, translating most of his statements. Little Brother asked her why she did that; she gave him a hand signal telling him she would explain later.

"How did you understand him?"

"One of the shapers gave her some special worms before she left Zonama Sekot, along with special weapons. Unfortunately she lost the weapons when the pod was damaged." Master Horn said from his position. Tahiri could tell without the Force he was upset about something.

"I see."

"Luke that doesn't mean anything," Master Horn said walking over to him, "and you know it. You have to change those orders."

"I can't Corran, I was out voted 9 to 3. Most of the Council figure it is a good idea."

"Just because they all agree doesn't mean that they are right."

"I know Corran but when I set up this new council I gave up unilateral control. I have to follow their dictates as well as anyone else. If it makes you feel better Kyp agrees with you and me."

"If Kyp and I agree on anything that alone should tell you something."

"That is the same thing he said," Master Skywalker said with a smile, "but we have to deal with the way things are no how we wish they were."

"Excuse me." Tahiri said bring their attention back to her. "This is all interesting and imagine just how much more interesting it would be if I knew what you were talking about."

"The Jedi Council had reviewed your actions with the Imperials along with Corran's and your request for additional training. They agree with more specialized training the mission would have gone smoother."

"Jedi training Luke not this."

"So I'm not going to get training?" Tahiri said feeling worried about the answer, the vision that Anakin had told her about her future before her shaping flashed through her mind.

"You will receive training, Tahiri, just not Jedi training." He turned to look at Master Horn. "It is not her Jedi training that is the problem, Corran. That is something that she knows, it is her anger control that is the problem. She will have to learn to deal with her dual heritage, which is something that we can't really teach but we can be there to help her in any way we can. In that way the Council and I are agreement, even if we disagree on other matters. Corran before you were a Jedi, you flew in the military and were a law enforcement officer. Do you not agree that those two jobs helped you be a better Jedi?"

"Yes but I grew up in Corsec and learning many values that unfortunately Tahiri didn't have. She is a hell of a Jedi, what she has gone through and what she has overcome is nothing short of amazing, Luke. But if you let these orders stand she could run into problems that we won't be able to help her with."

"We just have to trust her Corran." Master Skywalker said, Corran looked like he might argue some more but in the end just nodded his head. Master Skywalker turned back to Tahiri with a strange look on his face. "Tahiri, the council has two choices for you. The first one is to allow you to return to Zonama Sekot and to stay there with Danni to help with the Yuuzhan Vong. I know how much you don't want to do that, I had them modified that choice to keeping the _Double Trouble_ so you can explore the Unknown Region. The second choice is to join the military and get training on Borleias."

"As what a fighter pilot?" Tahiri asked, so far neither choice had that much appeal to her.

"As a Wraith."

Tahiri couldn't have been more surprised if Luke told he was going to sell her off as a slave. To let her join the Wraiths? The most proficient spies and commando unit in GA? Would she want to do that? HELLS YEA!

"Your joking right?" When Master Skywalker shook his head she felt as if she was flying.

"Tahiri, calm down. I can feel you leaking." Corran said drawing her back down. "I want you to calm down and think long and hard about this."

"He is right Tahiri." Luke said motioning her to sit down, after all three were sitting did he go on. "There will be some conditions if you do this."

"Which would be?"

"One you will be under military control, you will be part of the military. You will have to serve at least 4 years, once you are in you can't just leave. Not even I can interfere with their orders, if something comes up you can't desert to help any other Jedi. Do you understand?"

"So I'll basically be like any other recruit?"

"Yes, in more ways then you know. The second condition is you will not reveal to anyone else in training that you are a Jedi. Commander Loran is restructuring the Wraiths to deal with the problems of pirates groups and remaining Peace Brigade and Yuuzhan Vong rogues. He is going to take 24 of the best spies; slices and pilots he can find and set them lose on the galaxy. This program is top secret, most of the higher officials in the GA don't know the details including me." Master Skywalker paused to let that sink in, once he was satisfied that she understood he continued. "I don't want any wash outs knowing that a Jedi is in the training program. Once the training is complete you may reveal to your new squad mates that you are a Jedi. Whether or not you wish to let them know you are a Yuuzhan Vong/Human is up to you. Neither Loran nor I will force you to tell them that fact. Also you have to make some changes to hid the fact who you are."

When he didn't say anything else she thought about what he could be talking about. How else could anyone know who she was? Then it hit her, she brought her hand up to feel her scars.

"I have to remove my Domain Markings?"

"I'm afraid so Tahiri." Master Skywalker said gently.

"But …" she knew she sounded like a child but her markings told the world that she was, whom she belongs to.

"It is a safety issue Tahiri," Master Horn said leaning forward, "even after you get done with training you have to be aware of anything that could put you and your team at risk. Those three scars make you one of the most recognized Jedi in the galaxy. Even if most people don't know what they are many of the Peace Brigade and Yuuzhan Vong will spot them in a second. A spy must be unrecognizable; she must remove any scars or tattoos, because if they know who you are they will be able to identify not only you but also the rest of your team and contacts. You could get others killed if you keep them."

"I …" she paused and gather her thoughts again, "I will have to think about that one."

"Like Corran said we want you to think long and hard about this decision." Master Skywalker said nodding. "While I have the highest respect for the Wraiths, they do, at times, things that I would not approve of. Their first mission is to provide security to the GA, to find and eliminate any potential problems that could destroy the security of the GA. They will fight dirty against an opponent; do things that a Jedi should have no part of. They don't like to fight but if they do they fight to win first. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"You're saying that some actions that I will have to perform as a Wraith will bring me close to the Dark Side?"

"Possibly."

"Look Tahiri, I know Face. All three of us had worked with him and some of the other Wraiths in the past. Face would never set out to make you abuse your powers but his first concern is with his team. If a situation dictates him to ask you to do something that you feel is wrong it is to save his team's lives. I want to you to be aware of that fact while you make your decision."

"That is a good point, he will be in effect your new master as it was. Only if you disobey one of us we will understand most of the time. If you disobey a direct order you could be brought up on charges, spend time in the brig and or be dismissed from the military. And if you get thrown out of the military the Council could very likely ship you off to Zonama Sekot without your consent."

"I will also keep that in mind Masters." Tahiri said.

"Also, while Commander Loran is willing to take you on as a Wraith your position is something you have to earn on your own. If you wash out at any time they will most likely move you into an analysis position with regular GA military or into a fighter squadron. Just because you wash out will not release you from your obligations to the military."

"Understood, will Little Brother be allowed to travel with me?"

"Yes," Master Skywalker said with a grin, "you two make a good team. However if you go with the Wraiths you will have to, at least temporary, give up the _Double Trouble._ Although for how long I don't know, Face asked me to keep in storage until you need it again. I'm not sure but I think it will have something to do with your missions after you complete training."

"Well as long as Little Brother can go with me I can live with the rest. I'll be able to hide my light saber in him until I complete training. If I go with the Wraiths how will I get there? Do I have to start from scratch?"

"You will be given a fake id and history, with complete training records. You will go in as a new recruit fresh from academy. We did this since the only thing we can't change is your age. We will assign you a X-wing and you will fly out to Borleias on your own. Once there Major Tainer will give you a quick and dirty lessons on proper military edict." Corran said with a wary look. "There is one more thing you need to understand Tahiri. The Wraiths, historically, have been made up of retreads. They are mostly people who have screwed up one too many times in the regular military, for many this is their last hope of staying in. They will not be like most people you have dealt with in the past; they will try everything and anything to get under your skin and everyone else skin. They will push the limits of their orders, they will be far more combative then normal, and many will probable have unstable mental problems. While Face and Kell will do a good job weeding them out you still need to be aware of this, understand?"

"I think so," she said nodding slowly, "in a way it will mean I'll have ample opportunity to learn better self control."

"Well that is one way to look at it certainly." Master Skywalker said, "I need your answer within 3 days. If you have any more questions contact Corran or me, we will do our best to answer them."

"I have one question, why are you two so against this?"

"A Jedi shouldn't, as a normal course of duty, spread disinformation and practices deceit. That is the way of the Sith not the Jedi. However since you will be using your talents to help the GA, the information you provide could help millions live safer lives; we will try this." Suddenly it seemed very cold in the lounge and Master Skywalker's normally bright and open eyes seem to grow distant and dark. "Also know we will be watching you and your actions very closely. If other and I feel that you are slipping into the Dark Side we will take steps to stop that slide, regardless of your promises and the military views. Do you understand that?"

"Yes." Suddenly as it happened everything returned to normal. She made a mental note to check with Little Brother later to see if he noticed anything.

"Very well," Both Masters got up and bowed to her. "We expect an answer in three days then."


End file.
